To watch and listen to the hysterical right-wing noise machine regarding the new administration is simultimely perversely unsettling and laugh-out-loud funny. After 8 years of the Bush Misadministration, during which time Hannutty, Limbaugh and Blowhard O'Reilly championed one dunderheaded cause after another in service of their powerstablishment masters, one would think they would now slink away to oblivion.
But no, they're hot on the case -- the case that Obama is destroying America and needs to be stopped. What I fear is that one of their acolytes, the vastjority of whom are well-armed boneheads, will take their pronouncements to their logical conclusion. And then we'll have President Biden, and America will wrap itself once again in tragedy.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
The Bad Shepherds
Call this the story of The Bad Shepherds. What can one say about a country’s leaders when they haven’t adequately protected the citizens under their care from corporate predators? From the financial pirates, who, while "earning" tens of millions of dollars making specious transactions, hollowed out the wealth of the U.S. From the bevy of corporations who use our land and water as a toilet, flushing their harmful chemicals (starting with mercury) into our food supply.
From the tobacco companies that have addicted 30% of its citizens -- and millions more in their early graves? From the alcohol industry, which ruins countless lives in its lust for profits? From the many-tentacled food, snack, soft drink and fast food industries, which have "shaped" this country into one in which over 65% are overweight and eating their way into ill health?
From the pharmaceutical companies that are successfully achieving their agenda of pushing pills on all Americans, and targeting millions of children? From the gun merchants, who won’t be satisfied until every 17-year-old in the country is packing? From the television purveyors, a marketing machine for everything unhealthy, be it morally or physically?
The sad fact is that our shepherds, our so-called leaders who have been entrusted with the public welfare, have been well-paid to not intervene forcefully in these fleecings. Almost without exception these individuals (and you can include the top persons in the regulatory agencies), live a lot higher on the hog after their tenure than they did when they entered public service. This is made true by the so-called "revolving door," by which the majority of government regulators later get jobs in the industries they were supposedly overseeing. Or, in the case of congressmen, get jobs lobbying for the worst offenders of the public welfare.
From the tobacco companies that have addicted 30% of its citizens -- and millions more in their early graves? From the alcohol industry, which ruins countless lives in its lust for profits? From the many-tentacled food, snack, soft drink and fast food industries, which have "shaped" this country into one in which over 65% are overweight and eating their way into ill health?
From the pharmaceutical companies that are successfully achieving their agenda of pushing pills on all Americans, and targeting millions of children? From the gun merchants, who won’t be satisfied until every 17-year-old in the country is packing? From the television purveyors, a marketing machine for everything unhealthy, be it morally or physically?
The sad fact is that our shepherds, our so-called leaders who have been entrusted with the public welfare, have been well-paid to not intervene forcefully in these fleecings. Almost without exception these individuals (and you can include the top persons in the regulatory agencies), live a lot higher on the hog after their tenure than they did when they entered public service. This is made true by the so-called "revolving door," by which the majority of government regulators later get jobs in the industries they were supposedly overseeing. Or, in the case of congressmen, get jobs lobbying for the worst offenders of the public welfare.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Misc. Rants
How many of you know about the congressional "redistricting" that is constantly going on? Not many, I suspect, as it's considered a boring subject by most people. Both parties are guilty of it, but it's perpetrated by whatever party is ruling the roost.
What they do is get maps made showing numbers of registered Democrats and Republicans in each neighborhood, draw lines around those zones, then mix and match to get the desired results, even if it means district shapes are left horribly cockeyed. There are districts that have corridors only a few blocks wide and stretching for miles. (Is this what the framers of the constitution had in mind? Probably not.) If there's an opposition party stronghold, they jigsaw and truncate it in such a way as to weaken it's chances of voting that way again.
Greasy, shady stuff, but considered a legitimate exercise by the rascals whom we are oblivious enough to call our leaders.
We as a world have successfully passed into our third great epoch. The first was governed by the creed Safe Makes Right, during that long pre-dawn of human history when the best man was the alive man, the one who survived to hunt and eat and procreate another day.
Then, around thirty-thousand years ago, when people started forming into bigger groups, it became Might Makes Right, when they who controlled the biggest warriors with the biggest sticks, or most tanks, or accumulated nuclear throw weight, ruled over the others.
But in the last few decades a new dawn (or perhaps it's a sunset) has initiated, one in which Money Makes Right. Those individuals and corporations who have the most financial resources have the clout to make much, much more, and easily stifle competition and attempts at restriction from smaller entities, including governments, who in effect become their pawns.
Here's a question for you: If someone wanted to start a company that would kill over half-a-million people a year, most of them Americans, and give health problems to several million others, could they start this manufactory? Or, if already doing this, stay in business? (For the answer, refer to the previous piece.)
What they do is get maps made showing numbers of registered Democrats and Republicans in each neighborhood, draw lines around those zones, then mix and match to get the desired results, even if it means district shapes are left horribly cockeyed. There are districts that have corridors only a few blocks wide and stretching for miles. (Is this what the framers of the constitution had in mind? Probably not.) If there's an opposition party stronghold, they jigsaw and truncate it in such a way as to weaken it's chances of voting that way again.
Greasy, shady stuff, but considered a legitimate exercise by the rascals whom we are oblivious enough to call our leaders.
We as a world have successfully passed into our third great epoch. The first was governed by the creed Safe Makes Right, during that long pre-dawn of human history when the best man was the alive man, the one who survived to hunt and eat and procreate another day.
Then, around thirty-thousand years ago, when people started forming into bigger groups, it became Might Makes Right, when they who controlled the biggest warriors with the biggest sticks, or most tanks, or accumulated nuclear throw weight, ruled over the others.
But in the last few decades a new dawn (or perhaps it's a sunset) has initiated, one in which Money Makes Right. Those individuals and corporations who have the most financial resources have the clout to make much, much more, and easily stifle competition and attempts at restriction from smaller entities, including governments, who in effect become their pawns.
Here's a question for you: If someone wanted to start a company that would kill over half-a-million people a year, most of them Americans, and give health problems to several million others, could they start this manufactory? Or, if already doing this, stay in business? (For the answer, refer to the previous piece.)
The Tree of Good and Evil
I write a lot of things about America, mostly of a disparaging nature, as I believe that this country has a serious set of negative trends -- commercialism, rampant irresponsibility, lack of business honesty, corrupted politicians, overly violent TV and movies, erosion of personal integrity, declining ability to communicate effectively, food pollution, etc. -- which only seem to be worsening.
But a fully objective look at the U.S. reveals that it is, for the world, the living, breathing tree of good and evil. We assisted Europe in getting back on its feet after WWII, and conducted a comparatively benevolent form of occupation in Germany and Japan. (But, OK, we firebombed Dresden and Tokyo and dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.)
We've aided many Third World Countries to save lives during droughts and other emergencies, donated tons of grain, built bridges and schools, etc., but then we hooked them on bad food and cigarettes. Our State Department, CIA and military have a horribly mixed record of supporting both freedom and tyranny, depending on what we perceive to be in our "best national interest."
People around the world who are coming in contact with Americans may be meeting missionaries or educators or happy, well-heeled vacationers, or someone looking to exploit the local populace with a high-pollution factory.
Or even within our own borders, a person can choose to live a life of pure asceticism, devoted entirely to spiritual growth, and find places and people to support that lifestyle. Or they can conduct themselves in quite the opposite manner and live in abject degeneracy, suffused with alcohol and drug abuse, and find plenty of easy access to that sort of life as well.
Born of the seed of freedom: the tree of good and evil. Pick your fruit and take a bite.
But a fully objective look at the U.S. reveals that it is, for the world, the living, breathing tree of good and evil. We assisted Europe in getting back on its feet after WWII, and conducted a comparatively benevolent form of occupation in Germany and Japan. (But, OK, we firebombed Dresden and Tokyo and dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.)
We've aided many Third World Countries to save lives during droughts and other emergencies, donated tons of grain, built bridges and schools, etc., but then we hooked them on bad food and cigarettes. Our State Department, CIA and military have a horribly mixed record of supporting both freedom and tyranny, depending on what we perceive to be in our "best national interest."
People around the world who are coming in contact with Americans may be meeting missionaries or educators or happy, well-heeled vacationers, or someone looking to exploit the local populace with a high-pollution factory.
Or even within our own borders, a person can choose to live a life of pure asceticism, devoted entirely to spiritual growth, and find places and people to support that lifestyle. Or they can conduct themselves in quite the opposite manner and live in abject degeneracy, suffused with alcohol and drug abuse, and find plenty of easy access to that sort of life as well.
Born of the seed of freedom: the tree of good and evil. Pick your fruit and take a bite.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The Tube Boobs
I was raised in a time when civility and virtue were still considered to be prime attributes, although the WWII generation would complain of us that we were crass and vulgar compared to them. But what’s going on now with the “culture,” by which I mostly mean TV, movies and music, is that civility and virtue -- be it humility, honesty, intellectuality or any of the others -- have been mostly thrown out the window. In fact a character on a television show these days, whether it’s a comedy, drama or reality show, is now hooted and booted for displaying virtue, and is liable to be derided as a “wuss,” a sucker or a loser.
You know how every week there’s a DVD or two that comes out that you just have to see? And how there’s 20-25 hours of stuff on TV that’s just part of your schedule to watch? Well, what are you going to do in the future when there are 10-12 DVDs per week and 45-50 hours of TV that you don’t feel you can live without? (If you think many people are zombie-brained now...)
Speaking of such things, a study showed that the average college student watches over 30 hours of television per week. This was inclusive of the buckled-down students, so that means that many of these kids are wired in to 35-40 or even more hours per week. And this doesn’t include time spent on video games, online chatting, text messaging and downloading/listening to music. And "hooking up." And, what’s that other thing they sometimes do? Oh, yeah, attending class and studying.
A national survey revealed that only 22% of high school students spend more than one hour a day on homework. 55% (perhaps the more honest among them) said they studied less than 3 hours per week. Of that group, 65% reported that they made mostly A’s and B’s, which says more about the dumbing down of standards than the abilities of the kids.(Further note: Almost all of these homework hours are accomplished with some combination of TV, music-player and text-messaging in operation, thus diminishing the concentration level.)
The real corruption of television and movies, more so than the overdone sexuality and violence, is that misbehavior is constantly being shown with little or no repercussion, often with little notice being given to it at all. In other words, the abnormal is treated as normal, even as being "fun stuff." For the generations between 5 and 35, brought up more by mass media than parents, these depictions are a strong teaching tool, instructing them as to the boundaries of acceptable behavior.
One of the insidious things about television is that, since it’s written by New York and L.A. people under general instructions to create edgy, exciting characters, the resultant populations of TV show dramas and comedies, are hardly like real people, even metropolitan-based people. Since this involves a kind of symbiotic reflection with the mass of TV viewers, i.e., they model themselves somewhat on what they see portrayed on the tube, than this mass media – and to a lesser extent movies – is creating a warping in the population’s sense of itself, actually affecting people’s behavior in a mostly negative way..
You know how every week there’s a DVD or two that comes out that you just have to see? And how there’s 20-25 hours of stuff on TV that’s just part of your schedule to watch? Well, what are you going to do in the future when there are 10-12 DVDs per week and 45-50 hours of TV that you don’t feel you can live without? (If you think many people are zombie-brained now...)
Speaking of such things, a study showed that the average college student watches over 30 hours of television per week. This was inclusive of the buckled-down students, so that means that many of these kids are wired in to 35-40 or even more hours per week. And this doesn’t include time spent on video games, online chatting, text messaging and downloading/listening to music. And "hooking up." And, what’s that other thing they sometimes do? Oh, yeah, attending class and studying.
A national survey revealed that only 22% of high school students spend more than one hour a day on homework. 55% (perhaps the more honest among them) said they studied less than 3 hours per week. Of that group, 65% reported that they made mostly A’s and B’s, which says more about the dumbing down of standards than the abilities of the kids.(Further note: Almost all of these homework hours are accomplished with some combination of TV, music-player and text-messaging in operation, thus diminishing the concentration level.)
The real corruption of television and movies, more so than the overdone sexuality and violence, is that misbehavior is constantly being shown with little or no repercussion, often with little notice being given to it at all. In other words, the abnormal is treated as normal, even as being "fun stuff." For the generations between 5 and 35, brought up more by mass media than parents, these depictions are a strong teaching tool, instructing them as to the boundaries of acceptable behavior.
One of the insidious things about television is that, since it’s written by New York and L.A. people under general instructions to create edgy, exciting characters, the resultant populations of TV show dramas and comedies, are hardly like real people, even metropolitan-based people. Since this involves a kind of symbiotic reflection with the mass of TV viewers, i.e., they model themselves somewhat on what they see portrayed on the tube, than this mass media – and to a lesser extent movies – is creating a warping in the population’s sense of itself, actually affecting people’s behavior in a mostly negative way..
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
America on the Ropes
I hate to be the one to tell you this but the dear old U.S. of A. is the biggest shop of horrors on this planet. For all the greatness spawned here in the past -- and still some things to this day -- we are also the major producers and purveyors (and exporters) of guns, war products, alcohol, air pollution, water pollution, chemical and biological weapons, raped and empty-calorie food products, sugar-fizz drinks, aspartame-fizz drinks, filthy and violent music and movies, war toys, pharmaceuticals for children, pornography, mind control programs, government surveillance (domestic and foreign), tobacco products and Eddie Murphy films.
But none of that stops people from looking up from reading their Better Homes and Gardens or Maxim magazines and saying things like, “Is this a great country or what?!” (I'm starting to lean towards "or what".) Or putting all those stickers and flags on their cars. Or voting for the politicians who most shamelessly push their patriotic buttons.
To the extent that a country's people is gung ho "My country right or wrong," that nation is susceptible to making grave errors of judgment, especially in its foreign policy and actions abroad. The best example, as in many things, is Nazi Germany, but virtually all national leaders of powerful countries have the grand egos that are requisite to evil adventurism (to have gotten to the top in the first place) and without the restraints of a soberly discerning public, their most rapacious objectives might graduate from temptation to deployment.
There's an old expression, "It's a free country." This was never more than a half-truth but nowadays, between an overabundance of laws and regulations, perpetrated by a many-layered law enforcement structure, a litigious society (squeamish, whiny citizens and voracious lawyers) and the damn PC police, it's more like a quarter truth.
The upper middle class suburban population, which has quite a bit of clout politically, socially and economically, lives in a kind of fool's paradise, a pseudo-reality island of green lawns, sparkling malls, modern office buildings and pro-active schools. This is their world — and a good world it is, one that they deserve to enjoy — but they often (as in almost always) lose sight of the fact that, while they're living on their 30 square miles of well-kept civilization, not all that far from them is a city with 20 square miles of urban crime and grime, with vermin-infested housing, and crumbling schools.
What should they do about it? Well, that's hard to say, as the first step toward action has not even been taken, which is the acknowledgment that this problem — the deprivation, degradation and desperation of millions of fellow human souls — even exists as something of importance.
But none of that stops people from looking up from reading their Better Homes and Gardens or Maxim magazines and saying things like, “Is this a great country or what?!” (I'm starting to lean towards "or what".) Or putting all those stickers and flags on their cars. Or voting for the politicians who most shamelessly push their patriotic buttons.
To the extent that a country's people is gung ho "My country right or wrong," that nation is susceptible to making grave errors of judgment, especially in its foreign policy and actions abroad. The best example, as in many things, is Nazi Germany, but virtually all national leaders of powerful countries have the grand egos that are requisite to evil adventurism (to have gotten to the top in the first place) and without the restraints of a soberly discerning public, their most rapacious objectives might graduate from temptation to deployment.
There's an old expression, "It's a free country." This was never more than a half-truth but nowadays, between an overabundance of laws and regulations, perpetrated by a many-layered law enforcement structure, a litigious society (squeamish, whiny citizens and voracious lawyers) and the damn PC police, it's more like a quarter truth.
The upper middle class suburban population, which has quite a bit of clout politically, socially and economically, lives in a kind of fool's paradise, a pseudo-reality island of green lawns, sparkling malls, modern office buildings and pro-active schools. This is their world — and a good world it is, one that they deserve to enjoy — but they often (as in almost always) lose sight of the fact that, while they're living on their 30 square miles of well-kept civilization, not all that far from them is a city with 20 square miles of urban crime and grime, with vermin-infested housing, and crumbling schools.
What should they do about it? Well, that's hard to say, as the first step toward action has not even been taken, which is the acknowledgment that this problem — the deprivation, degradation and desperation of millions of fellow human souls — even exists as something of importance.
Friday, April 17, 2009
The Decline of the American Empire
One of America’s dirty little secrets, which soon threatens to become public knowledge and public shame, is how the colleges are passing along huge numbers of poorly-prepared students to the workforce, just as the high schools passed them along to the colleges.
People whose job it is to hire and train the young as they enter the job market have become increasingly appalled, and challenged by, the descending levels of aptitude -- the results of a failed educational system. In fairness though, only a portion of the blame should be on the educators as this is a systemic cultural crisis, with causal factors ranging from entertainment overload to empty diets to the breakdown of family discipline.
It’s gotten so bad that Toyota recently announced that it was placing its new auto plant in Canada, instead of in one of the several U.S. locales which were hungrily vying for it. They were clear about their reason for turning down the lavish American incentives: The workforce in this country has great difficulty with written instructions, and combined with their very low memory retention, this leads to overly long training periods followed by many workplace errors.
Take note, America. History is replete with the rise and fall of great nations who dominated the world, got rich and powerful, then fat and lazy and arrogant and decadent. Then were defeated by the next lean-and-hungry to come along. The sure-fire early-warning sign of a formerly great country's decline is the corruption and disaffection of its youth, which America has in spades.
The vast majority of the top students in U.S. colleges are Asian and Indian. They used to go to work in American companies, but due to the hyper-paranoid immigration policy changes (post 9/11 by the Bushies) and the evolvement of corporate opportunity in their home countries, they have lately been returning to those places and working for (or starting up) enterprises which will eventually dominate the world in all marketable fields.
People whose job it is to hire and train the young as they enter the job market have become increasingly appalled, and challenged by, the descending levels of aptitude -- the results of a failed educational system. In fairness though, only a portion of the blame should be on the educators as this is a systemic cultural crisis, with causal factors ranging from entertainment overload to empty diets to the breakdown of family discipline.
It’s gotten so bad that Toyota recently announced that it was placing its new auto plant in Canada, instead of in one of the several U.S. locales which were hungrily vying for it. They were clear about their reason for turning down the lavish American incentives: The workforce in this country has great difficulty with written instructions, and combined with their very low memory retention, this leads to overly long training periods followed by many workplace errors.
Take note, America. History is replete with the rise and fall of great nations who dominated the world, got rich and powerful, then fat and lazy and arrogant and decadent. Then were defeated by the next lean-and-hungry to come along. The sure-fire early-warning sign of a formerly great country's decline is the corruption and disaffection of its youth, which America has in spades.
The vast majority of the top students in U.S. colleges are Asian and Indian. They used to go to work in American companies, but due to the hyper-paranoid immigration policy changes (post 9/11 by the Bushies) and the evolvement of corporate opportunity in their home countries, they have lately been returning to those places and working for (or starting up) enterprises which will eventually dominate the world in all marketable fields.
Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself
Hello. My name is... not Methuselah Blume. Most of you know me as Dan Cooper, or, more infamously, as D.B. Cooper. That's not my real name either , nor is Sammy Cooper, which is the appellation I go under now. My actual identity will have to remain a secret for the near (and perhaps into the far) future.
After I parachuted from the airplane on that fateful night in 1971, I became lodged in a tree, unable to free myself. Along came a man, a man with a vehicle, who decided to free me -- not just from the tree, but from my checkered terrestrial existence. His vehicle was a flying diskcraft, and he was part of a crew from a much larger ship.
A short while later, I became a member of the crew on board that ship, part of what's called the Service Corps of the local (621 planets) Sector government. I've been part of many adventures during the past 30-some years, something which I'll write about in due time. For some of the story, one could read a book which is being published next year. It's called "The Once and Future Man: The Exaggerated Death of Ambrose Bierce." I've read most of the manuscript, and I can assure you that there's not a boring page in it.
For now, I'd like to get some of my opinions placed in cyberland, especially those regarding this decadent American culture -- it's politics, governance, newsmedia, entertainment industry, health habits, etc.
After I parachuted from the airplane on that fateful night in 1971, I became lodged in a tree, unable to free myself. Along came a man, a man with a vehicle, who decided to free me -- not just from the tree, but from my checkered terrestrial existence. His vehicle was a flying diskcraft, and he was part of a crew from a much larger ship.
A short while later, I became a member of the crew on board that ship, part of what's called the Service Corps of the local (621 planets) Sector government. I've been part of many adventures during the past 30-some years, something which I'll write about in due time. For some of the story, one could read a book which is being published next year. It's called "The Once and Future Man: The Exaggerated Death of Ambrose Bierce." I've read most of the manuscript, and I can assure you that there's not a boring page in it.
For now, I'd like to get some of my opinions placed in cyberland, especially those regarding this decadent American culture -- it's politics, governance, newsmedia, entertainment industry, health habits, etc.
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