Category: Politics

What has happened to this country…

Posted on

Korporations Have Hijacked Our Schools

Here is a link to an article that details how our schools are being taken over by korporations for purpose of creating commodity style workers. It sounds like a conspiratorial type idea, but… I don’t know if we have a bunch of corporate types in a back room planning this, but the effect is the same. And I believe real. Korporations want compliant workers. Besides lower wages, I think part of the rush to H1-B workers and off-shoring was to get a more compliant workforce. My experience, having worked with a multitude of H1-Bs, is that they do not buck the system and accept whatever is dealt out. Korporations 1, workers 0.

The link: Our Public Schools Are Churning Out Drones for the Corporate State

For whatever reason there seems to be a head long rush to divide us into a classed society. A rush to divide us into a society of the educated and the poorly educated. Education does not seem to be valued any more for the sake of knowledge, but only for what it can do for you career-wise. Most of the Meta values I am aware of are not derived from the korporate workplace.

This two class society scares me in another way. For a democracy to really work well, it is better to have an educated population. To have a population that is not influenced by every Glenn Beck that comes along. A population devoted to the NFL and reality shows, is not going worry too much about state of the nation until it is too late.

Most of my adult life I have worked for large korporations that include several Fortune 500 companies. While I do not think I am exceptional or different, I have always chafed in these places. There is something about being stuck in a little gray cube 8 hours a day that is not conducive to the soul’s health. The folks that run these companies know that. So the question becomes how do we keep the work force under control, and with the illusion that this is what life is all about? They obviously think the answer is to hijack the educational system.  With control of the education system the values and skills that benefit the korporations can be instilled early and often. They are well on the way to doing that. Continue reading “Korporations Have Hijacked Our Schools”

Posted on

Blue State vs. Red State Explained

This one of the many things that float around the Internet. It may have been meant to be funny, informative or both. It was sent to me as Texas translations of Californiaese. I think it works very nicely to expain the difference between Red states and Blue states.

Enjoy.

      Blue States Red States
Arsenal of Weapons Gun Collection
Delicate Wetlands Swamp
Undocumented Worker Illegal Alien
Cruelty-Free Materials Synthetic Fiber
Assault and Battery Attitude Adjustment
Heavily Armed Well-protected
Narrow-minded Righteous
Taxes or Your Fair Share Coerced Theft
Commonsense Gun Control Gun Confiscation Plot
Illegal Hazardous Explosives Fireworks or Stump Removal
Nonviable Tissue Mass Unborn Baby
Equal Access to Opportunity Socialism
Multicultural Community High Crime Area
Fairness or Social Progress Marxism
Upper Class or “The Rich” Self-Employed
Progressive, Change Big Government Scheme
Sniper Rifle Scoped Deer Rifle
Investment For the Future Higher Taxes
Healthcare Reform Socialized Medicine
Extremist, Judgmental, or Hater Conservative
Truants Homeschoolers
High Capacity Magazine Standard Capacity Magazine
Religious Zealot Church-going
Reintroduced Wolves Sheep and Elk Killers
Fair Trade Coffee Overpriced Yuppie Coffee
Exploiters or “The Rich” Employed or Land Owner
The Gun Lobby NRA Members
Assault Weapon Semi-Auto (Grandpa’s M1 Carbine)
Fiscal Stimulus New Taxes and Higher Taxes
Same Sex Marriage Legalized Perversion
Overseas Contingency Operation 
War
Mandated Eco-Friendly Lighting   Chinese Mercury-Laden Light Bulbs
Global Warming or Climate Change 
  Weather & it ain’t rainin?
General Welfare of Americans
Gov’t Hand-outs at Taxpayers? Expense
Outdated History                
Constitution & Declaration of Independence
Posted on

Poor, Scared, Less Educated, and Left Behind = Conservative

” Sadly, the foot soldiers of Conservatism do not understand that they are winning a Pyrrhic victory, one which indicates a deep and systemic rot in this country, as opposed to a triumph of ideas and values that can lead us through the decline of empire and towards a brave new future.”  — From article below

It has long been very perplexing to me why blue collar workers and the poor would support Republican/Tea Party/Conservative values and positions.  Apparently, I am not the only one that feels this.  I have not phased it quite so eloquently, saying they were “shooting themselves in the foot”, as opposed to calling it a Pyrrhic victory, but same thought.

The mega corporations do not care about America anymore.  Profit is their god, and the planet has become open with all the Free Trade agreements.  A dollar made in Cambodia is the same as a dollar made in Flagstaff, as far as they are concerned.  I have no idea what the Tea Party wants except the demise of our government and thus our country.

What is that old Irish curse, “May you live in interesting times.”  Interesting are these times,  but they are also very sad.

Link to an article about how America has become more conservative.

Link is no longer valid.

Posted on

Illustration of Michael Moore’s Stat About Inequality

More conversation about the wealth gap in this country.

From the referenced article, “Michael Moore joined the demonstrators in Madison, Wisconsin on March 6, and mentioned that the 400 richest Americans have more money than all of their 155,000,000 fellow citizens at the bottom of the pyramid combined.”  As much as I dislike Michael Moore personally, I have to agree with his positions on many things.

Here is another way to think about this number. The current USA population is 311,000,000 more or less. Half of that is pretty close to 155,000,000. So 400 people have as much wealth as 1/2 of the total US population. Mind boggling.

400 = 155,000,000.  I started to quip, “in what universe”.  I then realized it is in our universe.

This is one of most dramatic demonstrations of that concept I have seen. You have to strain hard to see the white dot that represents the rich among the sea of “commoners”. Call me a socialist, but nobody needs or should be that rich. I’m back on the one pie analogy. In order to have an over sized piece of pie you have to take some from someone else’s piece of pie. Or in this case a bunch of someones.

Link was not longer valid….sorry

What really slays me is that our politicians seem to be on a tear to make these folks richer.  Call me old school, but I firmly believe that to whom that more is given, more is expected.

Posted on

This Land is Your Land

Woody Guthrie wrote this song in 1940 during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl days.  In this day of union busting, growing wealth gap, and some say outright class warfare, maybe we need to be reminded of Woody’s words.  This is land is for all of us, just not a few, and certainly not the corporations that seem to have hijacked our government.

By the way, the gal in the middle of the 3 women singing back up is Moncia Taylor who I do a website for…check it it out.

MonicaTaylorMusic.com

Enjoy!

Posted on

The Tiny Island Nation of Mauritius

Mauritius is an island nation off the west coast of Africa. Up until 1968, it was a colony of Great Britain.  Chaos and poverty were predicted for post independence, but that did not happen. Quite the opposite. It is a wonderful case study in what can happen if you forgo maintaining the gap between rich and poor, and stop wasting money on military.

Every time I think of the senseless, unnecessary wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, I think of how that money could have been put to good social use in this country or other countries. I have no idea what we bought for our blood and treasure.

Below is the link to an article at Slate.com about this little country. Is is short, quick read and gives a little fodder for thought.

The Greatest Country on Earth

Mauritius Welcomes You – The Official Site for Mauritius

Wikipedia article on Mauritius

Posted on

Support America — Boycott Koch Brothers Products

The Koch brothers are the billionaire financiers of the Tea Party and other extreme Right political interest groups. They have one interest that is summed up as greed. Apparently they are not rich enough, and want more of the one pie we all share.

Here is an excellent article detailing the practices of the these two that hurt all Americans who are not  Kochs.  I am thnking that is a pretty big group. How Koch Industries Makes Billions Corrupting Government

If you prefer your information in a more audio-visual format scroll to the bottom of this Rachel Maddow article. You can watch a segment of her show that was about the Koch brothers. — Rachel Maddow: Koch Brothers ‘Pop Up In Every Scummy Political Scandal’

One small thing we can all do is boycott products produced by companies owned by these greedy bastards. If you think it does not matter remember that in our society dollars are votes. The Koch brothers just have a ton of votes. Here is a partial list from AlterNet.org article, How You Can Boycott the Kochs

It includes such things as: 

  • Angel Soft toilet paper
  • Brawny paper towels
  • Dixie plates, bowls, napkins and cups
  • Mardi Gras napkins and towels
  • Quilted Northern toilet paper
  • Soft ‘n Gentle toilet paper
  • Sparkle napkins
  • Vanity fair napkins
  • Zee napkins
  • The article goes on to detail building products we are not likely to encounter in our everyday shopping, but if you know a liberal contractor…

We have to start fighting back in every small way we can.  It seems to me the greedy and crazies have gotten hold of our government and economic systems. 

?
Posted on

Would you buy a vehicle made in China?

A few months ago I bought a new truck, a Toyota Tacoma.   I wanted to buy American, but I did not want the gas mileage of another full size vehicle.  I loved my F-150, but a sipper of gas they are not.  In smaller trucks, the Tacoma seemed like a no brainer compared to the rest of the field.  There a few things I am not totally happy with, but on the whole it seems to be a very good vehicle.  I am happy with it.

I recently received a survey from a firm that I am sure is contracted to Toyota-USA to do these sort of surveys.  It was one of these surveys that sucked you in by appealing to your altruistic side.  Fill out this survey and help us make better vehicles.  It also appealed to your greedy side by promising to enter you into a drawing for a year of free oral sex.  The thought of all those blow jobs was more than I could stand.  I started filling out the survey with all due haste.

Well to make a long story short, it was a long not short survey.   I was ready to just quit about half way through their questionnaire, but dreams of unending fellatio kept me going.

What did stop me in my tracks was this question.  Would you buy a car made in China, yes or no?  And if you answered no, like I did, a text box appeared asking you to explain why.  I answered diplomatically, and said that I did not need another piece of junk from China, and went on to say, “there was not fucking way I would ever buy a vehicle made in China.”

I truck further through the survey quite satisfied with my China answer when I encounter, “Would you ever buy a vehicle made in India, yes or no?”  Again if you answer no, a text box appeared asking for why. This one was easy, “See China.”

I am all for other countries raising themselves up, but do we have to throw the baby out with the bath water for them to do it?

Posted on

Made in America: small businesses buck the offshoring trend

Link to an article about small companies that have decided that off-shoring manufacturing is not that good a deal. Labor may be cheap, but the quality and deadlines are not there.

Made in America: small businesses buck the offshoring trend

All I can say is hip hip hooray…maybe some more American companies will see the light.   I detailed in another article my trials and tribulations trying to find a pair of work gloves NOT made in China.  I did finally find a pair made in Pakistan. That is not the USA,  but I would rather it be Pakistan than China.

I am still waiting for someone to explain to me why they are selling frozen vegetables from China. I’ve gotten where I check the “where from” on the package and if it is not USA or at least this hemisphere I put it back in the freezer.

Posted on

One Pie, 9 Pieces to the Rich, 1 Piece for the Rest of Us

And this folks is why I am so disillusioned and angry at the Right and our buffoons in Congress…

This chart is all over the Internet.  To me numbers seem to ring true, but I really do not know.  Best I could find out this is the original article from whence this chart came.  Note: Original article is no longer available.

Right now, I am buying the figures.

   Programs at risk vs Tax breaks for the wealthy

Click on image to get a more readable size

Random thought…I used to have to go to the downtown area of any major city to see crazy, psychotic people wondering around. Now days all I have to do is turn on CSPAN.