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The top 20% own 90% of all wealth, so this means 80% of us get to lift ourselves up by the bootstraps and fight over the remaining 10% size bone. Of course if we continue on the Paul Ryan, Rand Paul, anti-union roadmap to hell, 80% of us will soon be fighting over 1% of the wealth.
The spector of continuing concentration of wealth screams out for a law making it mandatory for all companies with 100 or more employees to have labor unions. For fair wages, benefits, and workplace safety, collective bargaining is a must. Share the wealth!
When will Rand Paul exercise his own damn "right to work,"........ get a job, and stop sucking off the taxpayers' tit? I've never seen such a dimwitted hypocrite in my life. As a taxpayer I'm opposed to paying anymore of Rand Paul's government salary until we close some tax loopholes on his free market Teabillionaires. Revenue loss is out of control!!!!!!! Randboy.
It is good to up in arms about saving the middle class. But let us set the record straight about who caused the decline of the middle class. One of the BIG PROBLEMS was the creation of NAFTA in the early 1990s. See the top photo at this link:
http://www.thenation.com/article/so-far-god-so-close-wall-st
This link’s photo shows those who celebrated the signing of this agreement by Bill Clinton. They were all the Democratic and Republican luminaries for a generation. Both parties are at fault. These same leaders also encouraged large corporations to ship “low wage” manufacturing jobs overseas because they wanted “high wage” jobs in this country. See the comments by Vaclav Smil in WIRED magazine:
“In every society, manufacturing builds the lower middle class. If you give up manufacturing, you end up with haves and have-nots and you get social polarization. The whole lower middle class sinks.”
from: This Is the Man Bill Gates Thinks You Absolutely Should Be Reading
By Clive Thompson; WIRED; November 25, 2013
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/11/vaclav-smil-wired/Also, a $15 minimum wage may work in New York City and other high cost of living venues, but on a national scale it would decimate the lower classes in the South and the Midwest where the cost of living is much lower.
tjhorne ~ I must concur with Aliceinwonderland. Bravo!
I especially like the part where you emphasize the need to utilize President Barack Obama. It never hurts to ask. President Obama has particularly tried to make himself accessible to everyone. That alone is a characteristic sorely missing in almost all the other recent administrations. I must admit, 85% of the time he has heard exactly what I've asked for. I even think he consulted my budget last year that I offered him. His was almost identical to mine.
It is truly silly to complain before you raise your voice. This rare opportunity may disappear in 3 years. Now IS the time to take advantage of it. It may never occur again. Thanks for that cool headed wisdom!
"tjhorne" whoever you be- That was one of the most lucid, eloquent, inspiring posts ever to grace this blog. Thank you and namaste. - AIW
Nothing comes out of "thin air". We actually have what is needed as far as a framework to refer to, However, this is now. The past is a reference and guide, so we must be educated, but, this is the moment of opportunity. I am guilty of the same helpless cynicism that seems to have slowly but steadily handed the advantage and control to the predators of our society. What has to has happen first is to keep on with the conversation of what is really going on while move to support the whistleblowers, conscientious objectors and others who have come to and gotten active. Our Congress is a small prototype of what happens when you have enough contempt for education to privatize it so t hat only the priviledged get one, and they seem to be very selective about what they want to know. Our masses are undereducated, over medicated, mal-nourished and basically sqeezed dry of resources. We have to decide that we begin with fundamentals like demanding that basic pay must always be commensurate with the cost of living. Period. Right now for a single parent to make it they need to make a minimum of 19.00 to 22.00 / hour or else they will never be solvent. All these pieces; making banksters accountable to their communities instead of the gambling circuit of Wall St and other stock markets, taking the profit out of health care and education, changing the basic principle of minimum wage so it need not be debated again, regulations!!!!!!!!!, they do not impede, they empower the many, commensurate taxation of all, prosecute tax evasion of the super rich, etc...... Basically take our world back. This happens when public awareness becomes a daily reality. People need to make the connection as to how the news bytes directly affect their lives. No significant change comes quickly, but, it has to come fromt he people who are affected, all of us. It is a broad spectrum of challenges, but for me, it is obvious that one basic truth is the driving force of all this deterioration of our quality of life. Everywhere there is a problem of huge impact, it began with some individual deciding they are entitled to more than their fair share of money, resources & power. So, like the basic bully on the playground, violated the basic rights of any all around them who stood in the way of them getting more than their due. Why do we let bullies bully? It is global and the bullies are abounding. Do we sit around whining and hope they devour each other? I don't have t hat kind of time. Sociopaths don't come around to do the next right thing. Sometimes their minions do before they have drunk too much of the
kool aid", but fo rthe most part, if they are to be stopped, we have to do it. Most of us at the poverty level will work very hard for very little, so it isn't a matter of will, iot is a matter of better use of that will, like a budget of human activism. We must embrace the principles of the Eleanor Roosevelts, Martin Luther KIngs, Nelson Mandelas, John Perkinss, Edward Snowdens, Bernie Sanderss, etc..................... Obama could do more with more direct support. We don't have to like him to accept things as they are and recognize we must seize the opportunity to use the vehicle we have in his administration and make them accountable to us and work in our best interest. Faith without works is dead. When we stop worshipping and idolizing the mystery of the very wealthy, we'll see the man behind the curtain and we will be mindful of him, then arrest him, charge him, prosecute, and take over those controls for the sake of our families of now and the future. The future can only be protected by the actions of now. Thanks
Palindromedary ~ We have a similar background; although, I must admit yours is far more extensive then mine. I too began in school learning punch cards. They were to be the wave of the future. Right! Most of my job experience is on hardware... mostly office equipment. Of course, with the latest innovations IT proficiency has become mandatory in my field. My experience with PC construction came about through a good long time friendship with someone who guided me through resurrecting old 386 boxes. That was quite a challenge; though, quite a learning experience. I learned all the PC jargon like DMA, and IRQ, as well as how they were wired and configured, how OS's were loaded, and, of course, how to troubleshoot a myriad of "issues". Lots and lots of troubleshooting. I learned the do's but mostly I learned the don'ts.
Later I learned how Plug and Play--or what I like to call "Plug and Pray"--works. After learning the basics I decided to invest in my own projects. Thundermaker and Hurricane I originally built as learning tools. My job eventually evolved into one that required a good knowledge of standard network topography. I could think of no better way of gaining that knowledge fluently and rapidly then by building my own network from scratch. Fortunately, digital electronics has always been easy for me to master and grasp. Although my goals may seem like a daunting task to some, it was really quite easy for me; and, a lot of fun.
Thanks for that link on The Weird Stuff Warehouse. Allow me to share my own go to place that I have had throughout the years since I graduated from High School for electronic goodies of all kinds. Mike Quinn's was originally by the Oakland Airport. They then moved somewhere in San Leandro, I believe. I haven't been there in years; but, every time I've gone there I've left with a smile on my face, a full bag of goodies in my hand, and a goal in my heart. I've worked wonders with the stuff I've found at this place that you can find at no other. Happy hobbying!
http://www.imsai.net/history/quinn/quinn-1.htm
I'd also like to add my observation that some athiests & agnostics are a heck of a lot more spiritual than many calling themselves Christian... that is, if one's spiritual qualities are measured by how generous they are, and loyal, and accepting of others as they are. - AIW
Palindromedary ~ You make a very good point... What is worse a hypocrite Christian, or a sincere Satanist? I can't answer that one. Don't want either one. I'd take an honest Atheist or Agnostic over either one any day. That's about all I can say for sure on that one.
From my perspective, "the high prince of all evil" and "God" are really the same thing...both nonsensical ideas that believers have used in various ways to justify killing each other.
Aliceinwonderland ~ Of course not. I didn't think you meant to. However, in that last post you weren't the only person I was talking to.
Also, I have to admit that I have done the same thing myself. More times than I care to admit. Everyone has at one time or another. It is very human to do so. I'm glad that we both managed to evolve past that. Now if we can just help and inspire others to do the same, the world will be a better place.
DAnneMarc: Yes, I suspect that you are right...there may very well be misguided psychos that believe in nonsense, like Satanism, in high places...and that goes for those in high places that believe in any of the other Religious nonsense as well... no matter what particular brand it is. Jesus freaks in high places scare the crap out of me more than Satanists. They are all hypocrites anyway and preach one thing...like peace and brotherhood... but practice quite another. I don't care if they are Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, or Satanists. They are all scary psychos as far as I am concerned.
Oh, and I am certainly not "asking you to help me". I don't need help. People who believe in those ridiculous, nonsensical, hocus-pocus things need help. People who can't grasp reality are often, or at least used to be, put into psycho wards. If you claim you are receiving messages from telephone poles or high voltage towers they can put you away. But if you claim you are talking to God...ie: praying...they find that acceptable. If you happen to believe in crazy religious things...they give you a pass....unless one religion gets to be so powerful then they can go around burning people to the stake for not believing in THEIR religion. Some of these misguided fools have even tried to exorcize the demons out of people...even kids...often with disastrous results. But that really is still going on in the world....major religions battling each other for supremacy. The crusades did not end many hundreds of years ago...it's still going on. There are "good" Christians, even today, who would have no problem burning heretics like me to the stake just because I don't believe in their God or Devils. They'd even burn some poor misguided fool who believes in a different religion as well...if they could...just as they did in the dark ages. Torquemada wannabes all!
I got a big kick out of reading some of the comments from bigoted thumpers after those YouTube videos of the fireworks display in Dubai. What uneducated, ignorant,
xenophobic twits!
I suspect that these people in high places, that call themselves Christians, really are acting like many other two-faced, hypocrite Christians, really stand out and are an embarrassment to the whole facade of Christianity..therefore, they are being held up to be "Satanists" instead.
"All I'm saying," Marc asserts, "is that it is easy to revel in the karmic turn of fate." How very true. I've no argument with anything you've said in response to my last post. You are right. But please understand, there is more than one dimension to how I've responded to this awful spectacle of middle class people stripped of everything, becoming homeless, via circumstances beyond their control. There's WAY more to my response than simply reveling in karmic justice. If you'll recall what I said in other recent threads, you'll hopefully see how horrified I am, and saddened by the catastrophic ruin these people have suffered; all the homeless, not just the formerly middle class.
When I can, I'll occasionally hand a homeless person something, anywhere from a buck to a twenty dollar bill, or I'll buy him or her something to eat. Times are lean for us now and it's been a good while since I've done it, but when we're doing better I'll resume my old ways of sharing with those in need. I make no judgments about the homeless in general, nor do I make assumptions about them; every one has a story. There are many situations and causes that, in today's America, could easily push most workers over edge of the proverbial cliff, down that steep slippery slope between financial solvency and financial ruin.
I'm extremely lucky not to have been bankrupted by medical bills, or by any major unavoidable setbacks in my own life. I'm not a young person, so I've beat some odds thus far. (Knock on wood.) Anyway… not to elaborate any further, Marc, I just want you to understand, I'm not sitting here gloating at anyone's bad fortune. I derive no pleasure from the suffering of others, especially those who've lost everything to this predatory, carnivorous oligarchy. Hell no my friend; to the contrary, I am in some ways traumatized by it... not just out of empathy but out of fear. It stirs up a myriad of emotions for me, spanning that whole spectrum, and none of them are pleasant. - Aliceinwonderland
Palindromedary ~ That's just it. So what? So what if your elected leaders believe they are serving the high prince of all evil. As long as you don't... it can't possibly have any impact on you, can it? Just by telling yourself this spiritual being is nonsense protects you from such nonsense, right? That is what you are saying isn't it? It doesn't matter that the car headed toward you is driven by someone who believes there is no one in front of him, right? He won't hit you because you know the truth and he doesn't, right?
Come on Palindromedary! If you can't see what a huge problem is being announced in that banner by half of our political system, I can't help you. You have to know your enemy in order to defeat them.
I'm not asking you to believe in any of this nonsense.
All I ask of you is to BE AWARE that there could very well be people in high places WHO DO BELIEVE in this nonsense. It helps to understand their motives in the things they do; especially, when greed alone doesn't always explain everything.
Aliceinwonderland ~ Very true! I'm not arguing with how you or Fabian feel. I feel the same way. I grew up witnessing the same travesties. All I'm saying is that it is easy to revel in the karmic turn of fate. Yet, as the saying goes, "To aire is human, to forgive is divine." I think these people have suffered enough. They have learned their lesson. Now is the time to extend the divine hand of compassion to they who have foolishly denied to extend it to others. It is the final part of the lesson.
I remind you of the famous words of Dr. King...
Obama 2006—”Too many of us have been interested in defending programs as written in 1938″
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-5Y74FrDCc
DAnneMarc: Cool! You've had a lot of good early experience on PCs. I have worked in the computer field for a long time even back when punched cards were the primary means with which to program computers...that or keying in instructions by hand using a panel of switches and using either hexadecimal or octal instructions depending upon the model of computer I had to work on. Wire memory was competing with core memory and 1k was graduating to 16k then to 32k then 64k.
I repaired and installed large mainframe computers as well as all of the smaller things like card punches, tape drives, disc drives, printers, card readers, card sorters, mass storage on drum. I also worked on Automatic Digital Network telecommunications computers forerunner to today's internet. They were called Data Communications Terminals..but were like fairly large cabinets that would print 132 characters per line and at great speeds. Drum printers, bar printers. And then there were little terminals as well.
Then I started working on minicomputers for businesses and later on I migrated to a job at a major government site maintaining their computers.
I took a couple of years of computer programming at local community colleges...in fact, one of those community colleges was where Edward Snowden was educated in Data Processing as well..although I had gone many years before he did.
I was fascinated with the smaller computers, when working on the larger ones, and read about them...how they worked, etc...but never got one until I went to Saudi Arabia.
My first PC was a Radio Shack TRS-80 model 16 that I bought in the US and had shipped to Saudi Arabia. I also had an Apple II but I can't remember if I had that one first or got it later, after my TRS-80.
I never actually built one until just a couple of years ago when I built the one I presently own.
There's a place in Sunnyvale, Ca called Weird Stuff Warehouse that I used to go for parts. I could pick up stuff for fairly cheap. They buy out various computer manufacturer's stocks in the bay area and old hard to find parts can often be found there.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/05/the-weird-stuff-warehouse-is-wher...
Point well taken, "chuck". I was just being my ornery old self...
Marc says "Yes, indeed, it is misdirected anger.... Yet it is that misdirected anger--that is the responsibility of those of us who understand the grand picture--to redirect where it wil do the most good." Marc, come on now! Other people's emotions are well beyond my control, along with where they choose to direct it. I can only re-direct my own anger, as I see fit. If I perceive someone else misdirecting theirs, all I can do is call them on it, which I have done on this blog many times. However I doubt it's had much impact.
I grew up middle class, surrounded by white middle class culture. There were various aspects of that culture that bothered me. What bothered me most was this patronizing, judgmental attitude many middle class and working class whites had towards those who were poor. I was very turned off by that. Much as it hurts to know how some of these folks are suffering, I can't help thinking it serves them right... specifically, those who supported policies like strict time limits on unemployment benefits. Kinda reminds me of that old Dylan song, "Like A Rolling Stone".
There has never been a time when good jobs with a livable wage were available to everyone in this country, even in the boom times of the 1990s. Many of those lucky enough to have secure, decent paying jobs seemed to take it for granted as though it were an entitlement, shrugging their shoulders dismissively at those less fortunate than themselves. I think this is the attitude Fabian is talking about. Far back as I can remember, the vast majority of Americans have either been in denial of, or ignorant about, America's own version of a caste system. Now that reality has caught up with these people, many of them are pissed off. Understandably. But now they get to see how it feels to be dispensible, invisible, no-count peons. Many of these people were in favor of NAFTA, which as you know, ultimately lead to the demise of our middle class. If these newly disenfranchised Americans aren't the wiser for it; if they aren't feeling more compassion for others down on their luck, then maybe it's time they taste their own goddam medicine. - Aliceinwonderland
DAnneMarc: I watched that first video and part of the last one...I believe I had seen it before. In fact, a number of years ago I went to Monte Rio and tried to find the entrance to Bohemian Grove. My memory of that trip is rather fuzzy but I believe that I got to the entrance and didn't go in. I can't even remember what the entrance looked like. I sort of remember some of the buildings in Monte Rio...but of course, BG is out away from the town a bit.
I'm certainly not as concerned about all of this as obviously some other people are. Skull and Bones Society ...just a rich and influential man's club where they can feel some kind of attachment to other men of their stature. Others, I've been told, participate in another kind of attachment which I won't go in to. ;-0
They have these fraternities and rituals just about everywhere...college fraternal initiations...even Sailors crossing the equator have ridiculous rituals...kissing the belly of Neptune...getting whipped by wet fire hose lengths as you pass through the line...all total nonsense, of course.
Christians have their nonsense rituals as well. Baptism. Communion. Listening to the ravings of the head lunatic for an hour every Sunday. Then some churches choke people by using incense. There may be graven images all around staring down at you. And statues too! All quite necessary if you expect to get into heaven, of course.
There's so much ridiculous horse sh1t in all of these things it is so nice not to believe in any of them. My mind is free of them.
DAnneMarc: Even if they were Satanic...so what? Satanism is just another stupid religion probably not even as criminally insane as Christians who have murdered so many innocent people over the history of mankind. I don't see any supernatural force that is so all powerful...it's all in the mind. What people do to one another is all because of what is in their minds. There is no external demonic force at work. Evil only exists in the mind.
Usually, people gravitate to Satanism because they are so fed up with the hypocrisy of Christianity that it is a way of hitting back at the institution that they found disgusting and degrading. Other people just find it appealing for various reasons...some being the errant and misguided belief that it brings them powers (not any different than when Christians believe that God will help them). Others may become Satanists because...it's like Halloween all the time...or going to a scary movie...the thrill of being scared or the feeling of being or possessing some unnatural power over others. Others are just plain insane...just like their counterparts in Christianity.
The main reason, I think, that people gravitate to these inane beliefs is because they were proselytized by their parents and community that were themselves proselytized by their progenitors. It's a form of abuse...mental abuse that causes a kind of insanity. Parents play this little game of Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny mixed in with Jesus and God and by the time they realize that Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny were merely lies they are, at least subconsciously, apt to have serious doubts about Jesus and God...but that conflicts with what is expected of them...so they can either pull themselves out of the conundrum or go on to be full fledged wackos as teens and adults. They'll always have a deep seated doubt about the veracity of their beliefs that they will have to fight in order to fit in with what they have been made to believe was proper.
Well, I certainly don't know why. Maybe they knew how much fuss the Democrats would put into it and make themselves look just as foolish as they have looked in past years? Just what they want...foolish Democrats spouting off about some idiotic thing like Satanism based merely on turning their stars at a 35 degree angle. Oh, you thought it was 180 degrees? But it could have just been 35 degrees. In which case that man in that symbol that Thom showed us was not morphed into a goat symbol.
Maybe it was just Bait. Democrats are usually very level headed when it comes to most things..they don't get as riled up and hateful as the Republicans do..certainly not as ridiculous as most Republicans. They certainly don't spout the idiocy that most of the Republican talking heads or even the politicians do. I think most people can see how ridiculous they are and the Republicans know it too...but of course, would never admit it. Maybe this was just bait to lure Democrats into behaving just as nutty as the Republican have behaved so often.
Palindromedary ~ Fair enough! Nevertheless I still don't buy that there is no reason behind flipping the stars. To some of us the reason is obvious. The same reason the Skull and Bones society exists. The same reason Bohemian Grove exists. If you don't know your enemy you will lose. Plain and simple.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExmO8UgQL4E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpKdSvwYsrE
DAnneMarc: Thanks for that link. So, what I see is Thom approaching this subject with a bit of slightly embarrassed hesitations as he meekly presents, almost stutters, this potentially embarrassing proposition. It looks to me like he really doesn't believe this nonsense but is merely projecting it in jest. What better way of poking fun at the raving lunatics who think God is on their side than to point out that their star symbol now represents a Satanic symbol. Sure, I hope it make the Republicans embarrassed over it. I hope it makes all those lowly thumpers that follow their Republican masters start to conjure up Satanic likenesses in their leaders so that they might think twice about voting for them the next time. But then, there are a lot of fools in the Democratic party who continue to vote for their corrupt leaders as well. Jackasses are stubborn animals.. you have to hit them over the head with a 2 by 4 just to get their attention...so goes the common belief.
Like I said...nothing wrong in jesting...as long as people don't take you too seriously..nor you take yourself too seriously...then they begin to see you as just as nutty as the well established nuts...like the Republicans.
Thom has always been a bit hesitant about being viewed as a conspiracy nut. He stays away from the 9/11 issue...although he did have on a guy that talked about it...all the while Thom was rather laid back, non committal, and did not try to look like he really bought any of it.
Intellectual ~ As defined by Wikipedia...
"...with no boundaries as to fields of study."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual
Palindromedary ~ Why then flip the stars? Surely there was some reason? You don't suddenly take on a Satanic symbol to win an election do you? Why? That is all I ask. You suggest it was an unintentional accident. I don't buy that. Neither does Thom. If you don't know just say, "Hey, I don't have a clue?" At least that is honest.