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Loren, there is little I disagree with in any of your posts… until I get to your comments about Thom. And regarding Thom, I don't think you are being quite fair in your assessments. Mark Saulys made an excellent point about Thom awhile back, that I see fit to paraphrase here. Mark reminded us that as a media spokesperson, Thom's mission is to influence as many people as possible.
The sad reality, Loren, is that you and I are WAY to the left of most people in this country. Thom has stated many times that he is a democratic socialist, and I've more than a hunch he would agree with most (if not all) our talking points about capitalism. But if he were to broadcast to the public that capitalism needs to get shit-canned or go extinct like the dinosaurs, he would alienate many of his listeners. It is indeed unfortunate that most Americans are brainwashed and consequently, very phobic about socialism; it seems the mere utterance of the word is enough to trigger panic attacks in much of the public. If Thom simply told it like it is without modifying the message, his listening audience would shrink drastically, as would his effectiveness as a progressive voice in a mostly fascist media environment. I would much rather that Thom follow his instincts and modify the message than alienate much of his audience.
I think you are spot-on about socialism versus capitalism. We truly are on the same page, my friend. I hope my repeated comments in defense of Thom and his tactics don't annoy you, but I guess that's a risk I'll have to take. - Aliceinwonderland
Definitely very well said!!!
For more info: google -- richarddwolff march 2014 -- for a great lecture on cooperatives, the reason why we should go that direction and where it has already worked big time.
Well said, Mark Saulys #19 & #22!
Aliceinwonderland #21: Plagiarism...copyright laws? I don't know...never thought about that. There sure are a lot of youtube videos that might be in jeopardy of that because I've never seen a youtube video jerky like that. I don't know who would want to watch such videos. It could have just been that the video recorder was malfunctioning. But at least it does tend to validate that he has performed as a comedian and he did look and sound (sans the jerking) pretty funny. Says he's a pretty good singer too. Did I mention he says he's a pretty good singer, too? ;-}
One of the best remedies for working people, aside from self-employment, is worker-owned cooperatives. I believe this is our only hope of restoring any semblance of democracy and fairness to the workplace. How else can we break that umbilical cord of dependency to franchises and other corporate entities that treat workers like slaves?! The less we depend on corporations & franchises for the necessities of life, the less power they will have over us and our economy. - AIW
True, unfortunately, unless the mob includes a few network CEOs!
Hi everyone - please give consideration to signing this petition in response to Guy McPherson's appearance on Thom's show. If you agree - please forward it to everyone you know. Thanks! https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/declare-national-emergency-con...
Hi everyone - please give consideration to signing this petition in response to Guy McPherson's appearance on Thom's show. If you agree - please forward it to everyone you know. Thanks! https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/declare-national-emergency-con...
WORKER-OWNED COOPERATIVES, Thom! That's the answer, for all who aren't self-employed! Otherwise we're just bustin' our fannies to make someone else rich. - Aliceinwonderland
I think it was Lenin who was so about imperialism in his book Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism. Marx did, however, unambiguously state that nationality is irrelevant, only a ruse to divide and conquer the working classes, and that the real inherent operant, adversarial division in society is class or political/economic status in the proccess of production (capital vs. labor).
That is starkly revealed now with "globalization" as the technology now exists and is readily available to enable the management of production from the opposite side of the world. Business now is independent of any need for support from its "home country" government and need not even make a pretense of investing in the home country's well being.
PD, I checked out Ed's video and you're right. I wouldn't have minded the jerkiness so much if the audio part wasn't mutilated as well. I could hardly understand most of the dialogue; it was rare to get even a complete sentence out of it. I left a comment telling Ed as much. My husband speculated this is a deliberate effort to protect the material from plagiarism. Ya think? - AIW
You're right about that, Mark. And Iraq was no threat to us, not even remotely. Just like all the other countries the U.S. has attacked in our lifetimes! If that doesn't make it illegal, something's wrong with our laws. At least the international community gets it. - AIW
Thom got a call yesterday from somebody who tried to say the U.S. attack upon Iraq was not illegal as it is commonly thought to be. He asked Thom, repeatedly, "What law did it violate?" and Thom had trouble finding an answer.
He first thought it was a violation of the Constitution by not getting sufficient congressional consent but that didn't hold up. Then he decided it was because Bush lied to Congress - which is a felony.
However, that isn't the reason the invasion of Iraq is so widely considered illegal. What makes the invasion of Iraq illegal is not any violation of U.S law but its transgression of international law. Bypassing the U.N. and siezing territory by force for its resource richness are international, statutory crimes in the modern, civilized world.
Hah-hah! Way to go Mark.
"...a mob lynching of a few of these Scumbags....televised!" Wishful thinking, PD. Not as long as we've got this corporatized neocon takeover of our media! It'll be ignored by all the networks. (SIGH) - AIW
You better suck their asses if you know what's good for you, pal!
So I guess we should accomodate them.
I noticed that bank tellers, on average, only make about $10-$12 per hour. And this web site shows who earns what...an amazing amount of data here.
http://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/index.htm
how about CIA or FBI salaries?
http://cryptome.org/2014/03/cia-salaries.htm
http://cryptome.org/2014/03/fbi-salaries.htm
John Young of Cryptome.org has been visited by various 3 letter agencies numerous times trying to get him to stop posting so much 'sensitive information'...oftentimes very embarrassing information on high rollers and government hot shots. Although, I believe that he got some of this salary information from the glassdoor.com .
Mark, Craig, Loren (especially!) - Thanks for everyone's good comments!
Chuckle8 - Thanks for the recap of some of the fallout of Reaganomics. I felt not everyone reading Thom's essay would understand his 9 references to "Reaganomics" with no further explication such as you gave of the facts of the matter. How desperately the country is still suffering from the fallout from Reagan policies as amplified by the Bushes! Where do we go from here, you know? When so many are eager to vote against their best interests and in favor of their oppressors??
Aliceinwonderland: Check out his bio...he's a comedian...there's even a video of his performance. He looks great and very funny but, unfortunately, that video was very jerky..I found the video on you tube as well and it was also jerky..too bad..I would like to have seen his performance without the jerking.
Scumbags! Scumbags! Scumbags! I think if they do this there will be a mob lynching of a few of these Scumbags....televised!
Well put! I certainly agree!
You're welcome, DAnnemarc! I was torn between two weevils too, giant ones, but then I woke up...gotta change my diet! ;-}