Are You a Millionaire?

Or are you simply an aspiring oligarch?
That may explain why we have a Republican controlled Congress. Or why we have Republicans at all.

A quote by Ronald Wright from his work, A Short History of Progress, frequently misattributed to the late great author John Steinbeck; "Socialism never took root in America, because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."
Why? Maybe because the vast majority of people in this country, rich or poor, don't even know what the words proletariat and socialism, actually mean. Yes, that is a knock on our educational system.

Let's start with proletariat, according to Websters Dictionary; it's a noun workers or working class people, regarded collectively (often used with reference to Marxism).
I see the problem now, we allowed an educational tool, the dictionary to become a propaganda tool.
Outside of ISIS, who as a people have we Americans been conditioned to revile since kindergarten?
Could it be communists? We all know that Marxism is communism.
Do you want to be labeled a commie? Probably not in America. You'll lose your job, friends (except those like minded), and possibly your family...

Socialism is a social and economic system characterized by social ownership and social control of the means of production as well as a political theory and movement that aims at the establishment of such a system.

Wanna be a socialist? Like that label any better? Again, probably not. In America, you're talking about synonymous terms. Commie=socialist=chaos=.....you name it, somebody's thought of it, because you're already afraid of it. Why? Because your government told you to be afraid. So you are, very afraid, very afraid to educate yourselves. Much easier to feed from a trough than to hunt down your own meal.
Much easier to have someone else do the heavy thinking, while you do the heavy drinking. Right?
Right. Right up until you realize, you're never going to be that oligarch you aspire to, that the game is rigged by families like the Bush Clan, the Koch's et al.

The reality is America, some of our greatest achievements occurred because we embraced socialism.
Our interstate highway system is one example, NASA, the Tennesse Valley Authority, the Works Progress Administration or W.P.A., farming co-ops that brought us SunMaid Raisins, Sunkist Oranges, "Cotton", this list goes on and on and on.

When we embraced unbridled capitalism...'er the Republicans... we got a Supreme Court that bestowed the rights of individuals on corporations. A middle class reduced by tens of millions. A working class ballooned by millions, a homeless population expanded by millions. Social Security retirementthat we all were forced to pay into in the form of a tax, suddenly became a wholly government funded "entitlement". An entitled oligarchy of 1% holding more wealth than the rest of the 99% combined. Two interminable wars, fought by the sons and daughters of the working class, so that the 1% could profit from their investments in our military industrial complex. Not to mention oil.

So why did so many poor people vote for a party bent on making us poorer?
Maybe because they're going to protect your Christian Rights, Stop Gay Marriage, and End Abortions!
They're going to sit around the proverbial kitchen table (in the Congressional dining hall over a tax payer funded meal) and go over the finaces like you do at home, while they balance the budget. Guess what? No Republican Congress or President for that matter, has ever presided over the implementation of any of these fantasies.

If you're a retiree living on Social Security, trying to figure out what meds you can afford, while feeding yourself pablum because Congress decided your cost of living has stayed steady... Just know they have your back when it comes to your right to go to the church nobody threatened to close. They'll do everything in their power to see to it that your daughters and granddaughters can't go to Planned Parenthood for an abortion if they've been raped. And by God they will protect you from receiving that unwanted marriage proposal from your same sex best friend at the senior center.

God Bless America!

Customer Service Died With the Middle Class

Have you ever been frustrated with the service received from a manufacturer, that charges top dollar for a product, and yet can't seem to deliver that product in a usable form?
Or offer an ETA indicative of two prior failed attempts?
A manufactured stainless steel item, that has been made so many countless times before, that the mere thought of one leaving it's factory in such a state would be unthinkable.
Laughably so?

I'm talking about an everyday item, one in use for centuries across the First World, something we all have in our homes, and surely take for granted on a daily basis. Like the scarlet sun rising and setting through the multi hued inversion layer of our sky, something as mundane, and time worn as the proverbial kitchen sink.

Yes, the kitchen sink.
Why, you ask, would a kitchen sink come to represent such a quandary?
Behold the photograph, and ask no more.
When you've ceased laughing at this example of "craftsmanship", read on dear reader, read on.

This clusterfuck represents the second attempt from the same maker to provide me with a kitchen sink, a maker that prides itself on building some of the most sophisticated "commercial" restaurant equipment available.
Notice the "commercial" notation? We'll get to that in a moment.

As I intend to use this kitchen sink, in the kitchen contained within my home, my application clearly becomes "residential". We're all aware of the clear distinction between "commercial", and "residential" use, are we not?
I thought so, you're a bright group!

But, were you aware that there is a greater distinction between the two categories?
Well there is.
Did you know, that with this particular manufacturer, that your "residential" order, and by extension your American Dollar, is somehow less valuable than a "commercial" order paid for with the same currency?
Shock, dismay, facially expressed here!!!
That this manufacturer, can justify making new "commercial" products for other customers ahead of the "residential" product that's been bought and paid for six weeks in advance?
That they fucked up twice before?
With the explicit implication in their response to a query for an ETA on the third try, that "residential" orders just aren't as important?

Wow.
I thought my American dollars were printed at the same mints, bearing the same faces, denominations, printed in that same dreary green black ink, as the currency buying the "commercial" stuff?
What a wake up call.
I guess they take "residential" dollars, and deposit them in a separate bank account from the "commercial" dollars they collect?
And those "residential" dollars earn less interest, pay out fewer dividends and wages, and allow for the purchase of not as much?

I call bullshit.

What's really fascinating though; is the fact that somebody had to make the determination that individual consumers are not as important to please, then explain it to me in terms that made no bones about where I stand. Pretty sure we can all assume, that this person is an employee of this company, not management, and most probably not ownership.
Just following the boss's orders.

I wonder; does this person feel less valuable than anyone else?
Is the money they earn and spend worth less than a rich person?
If you or they believe so, then the oligarchy has already won.

Round 3: The Knock Out Punch

Source: Google Images

Winner, and still champion by TKO in the 3rd round, by a 2 out of 3 judges decision,
Barry"the Bomba" Obama. Bummer Mitt, you had Barry on the ropes in the early going, but you caved during crucial give and takes, consistently contradicting yourself, and showing the world your true nature.

Mitt Rmoney will say anything to anyone in order to garner their vote. The man stands as tall and stout as the shifting sands of the Sahara. Snakes have more backbone.

When it comes to America's political scene one truism stands out; regardless of party it's about power.

Romney Family's "Rmoney" Photo-Op
Source: Google Images

This election however pits a 3D vision of the future against a blurry view of the past as perceived through a sepia tone print of glory days gone by.

Rmoney, and Ryan want you to believe that your grandfathers and great grandfathers had it best when they worked without collective bargaining under harsh take it or leave it conditions. They want you to forget your forefathers hard fought battles that secured a middle class for America.
The oligarchs running corporate America had little or no interest in building a strong educated workforce; quite the contrary, their only goal was personal enrichment. Knowing full well that the better educated the sons and daughters of these workers became, the harder it would become to maintain the indentured servitude nature of their fathers employment. In Rmoney's mind it's not much different today.

Rmoney and his ilk have spent the past 25 years dismantling America's manufacturing capacity, shipping jobs and technology to China, Taiwan, Japan, Latin America, Mexico..., all in the name of corporate dividends.
At least that was the company line:
"We're just doing what's best for the company and it's shareholders..."
In reality; they were actively breaking unions with an eye towards rolling back collective bargaining agreements that actively fed and nurtured a strong American middle class.
I mean how can they truly be in control, when they have to meet the demands of the peons they've deigned to employ? Power implies control, beware those who seek either.

Rmoney and Ryan want you to believe that the prevailing wages paid to non union employees have nothing to do with the wages paid to union represented workers. When collective bargaining is eliminated under their plan, how fast do you think real wages will fall?
My guess is, that descent will be mind numbingly rapid, akin to a death spiral in an out of control aircraft.

After securing the death of collective bargaining the next assault will be on our private lives, with the government of R&R doing all they can to insert Big Brother into our bedrooms. Roe v Wade will be the first target, with R&R expending the bulk of their political capital in a Quixotic misadventure the Taliban would be proud of. Much the same way Barry ignored the economy to pass BarryCare.

They fight not for the honor and humility of service to country; but for the opportunity to enrich themselves and their close financial supporters.

If Mitt felt so strongly about serving; how come he took two deferments from the draft during VietNam? I guess he felt entitled to dictate the terms of his service...

Thank You Mitt!!

August 12, 2012




Dear Mitt,
On behalf of a grateful party we congratulate you for stepping out of your well rehearsed character by making the bold choice of Paul Ryan as your Vice Presidential running mate.
America is now faced with perhaps the clearest choice ever presented in a Presidential race.
With your selection Mitt, you've raised the bar substantially.

We now offer the people two choices.
The first option; stay with the status quo. Incremental change taking our nation back down a slow retrograde path to legislated oligarchy. My personal fave.
Option two, embrace carefully selected excerpts from the objectivist teachings of an author cum philosopher, that propel us down the path of citizen servitude at a rate of speed the Air Force would covet in a nuclear missile. Now that's what I call balls my man!!

Really Mitt, we here at party headquarters extend our most heart felt gratitude to you for making the choice so clear for tens of millions of voters nationwide.

My job is now far easier than I could have ever hoped!

Continued Sucksess,
President Barry O'Bama

P.S. That's not a typo in "sucksess" by the way...

Photo Source: Google Images

Pair o' Dimes Shift Part Deux

Source: Google Images

Paradigm Shift: implies a dramatic change in the ways of doing business, devotion to religion, and personal interface between an individual and his government.
This post is designed to educate those in "public service", and their cohort in the corporate establishment, of the societal changes afoot. A paradigm shift in the way some individuals are going to confront this conspiracy of government and private enterprise some of us refer to as a Ponzi scheme. Most of you will recognize this as the United States of America.

Common knowledge dictates that corporate interests in this nation control all three branches of our republic; the judiciary, legislative, and executive. Official capitulation to these interests over the past two hundred years have been met with periodic spasms of resistance from a populace that refused to wear the yoke of legislated servitude. We now face a similar moment in history where we have sustained a steady assault on our individual rights, both as citizens and consumers.

Reality is America, if we don't act to reaffirm our commitment to the ideals so eloquently written in our founding documents, we doom ourselves to one of two fates faced by every republican democracy intoxicated by it's own power and wealth.
The evidence before us indicates a slide into oligarchy; wherein a very few families control the wealth and wellbeing of hundreds of millions of their fellow "citizens". Can you say "Russia", or maybe "China", "Great Britain"?...

Individually we've watched in silence, as our rights have been swept away like the ashes of the Twin Towers. Under the guise of patriotism, we have been asked to give up the rights our sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, and forefathers died heroically defending.
We now hold American citizens without charge as "enemy combatants" in clandestine prisons around the globe, denying them basic human dignity guaranteed in our Constitution and Bill of Rights.
In some cases we target them for extra-judicial killing expressly forbidden in our society.
Some of you rightly recognize this act for what it is, murder.
No greater or less a sin than that committed by the individual being hunted.

Our self imposed role of global police man, has guaranteed the enmity of most, and the fealty of few through intimidation, confrontation, hegemonic action.
For the most part America; the vast stores of moral capital established with our victory in World War II, are gone. Fear has replaced respect not only with regard to our friends and enemies abroad, but here at home as well. Many of the tactics employed in getting our neighbors to toe the line are also used here to keep us in line.

Think drones flying in civilian airspace.
Think about why Barry felt it necessary to suspend Posse Comitatus with the blessing of Boehner and the Supremes.

Many if not most of you are feeling the effects of our stagnant economy limping into round two of prolonged global recession. Some have lost your homes because legislation supposedly intended to keep predatory lenders from foreclosing, have no teeth.
Our leaders trumpeting victory for the common man while behind the scenes facilitating the opposite.

Now think about the inevitable sequence of events surrounding a shift in the economic behavior of a population determined to force change on their country.
What happens if we as a united group refuse to financially support the current status quo?
What would result from a witholding action by the people en masse?
Is it feasible to seek retribution against 200 million plus people?

Each of us acting as individuals, joined together in common cause, hold the last cards of freedom in the deck of life. Each of us holds the "Pair o' Dimes" needed to shift this country back to the path of righteousness.