CHEVRON IS TRYING TO MINDFUCK US ALL INTO SUBMISSION. DO YOU AGREE?

No, it’s not your imagination, Pilgrim.

Chevron really is trying to get into your head and control your mind, yea, possess the very essence of your soul.

And I’m not talking about the cute cartoon cars, either, although one can argue that those lil' suckers are Big Oil's version of Joe Camel.

I’m talking about the wickedly insidious mass manipulation tactic that Chevron likes to call its “We Agree” ad campaign.

There’s no escape. If you watch any TV channel with commercial breaks, there they are. Thinking that PBS may be an exception? Nah. You will see the entire spots, same as the ones they show on paid TV, right before and/or after the programs on your local public broadcaster. Open up any of the largest daily newspapers. Oh, look, there’s a print variation on the TV ad, facing page bottom. Turn the page, and gee, there’s another half page ad in the exact same position on the bottom right of the page! And yet again, one more time, a THIRD half page ad, same place, same size, same “Can’t we all get along” brainwashing attempt. Don’t bother going online, there’s no escape. Click through ads on practically every major web site, and especially the web versions of the newspapers taking all of that Chevron ad cash.

Every televised ad has the same premise. On the right side of the screen, a “real person” who is genuine folk, outside of the sphere of Big Oil influence (or at least that’s what you, the viewer, are being persuaded to presume). On the left side of the screen, some paid executive or employee or something-or-other for Chevron. Each party simultaneously states his or her case from his or her side of the TV screen. Hey, Right Side Common Person is concerned with the environment. Well, hey, Left Screen Company Person sez that Chevron is developing clean energy alternatives. (Then they’re allegedly turning around and patenting them, then shelving said technology or using it in limited quantity to lower competition and keep costs high.) Big oil is making lots of profit, Right Side Common Person declares, and is concerned about that too? Well, hey, here’s a big multi-billion dollar figure to throw at ya from Left Screen Company Person to show how much that Chevron is putting back into the businesses that they buy stuff from! (Of course, that’s called “operating costs” and does nothing to explain why Chevron and the other Big Oil conglomerates think that it’s perfectly cool to pull in and accumulate billions in tax-break-facilitated profits from jacked up gas prices due to rampant speculation.) But, we need safe energy alternatives right away, squeals Right Side Common Person? Left Screen Company Person counterpoints, well, hey, Chevron’s pulling natural gas out of Australia that, like, can provide fuel to lots of people and shit! (And who cares about that silly tree hugger talk about fracking? Natural gas is totally safe to use! Just ask all those folks in San Bruno, California! Besides, just because drinking water becomes flammable, that doesn’t guarantee that people will die from it. Just don’t drink so much.)

Chevron wants you to recognize and respect their existence in your world, John and Jane Q. Public, and goddammit, they are going to make sure that you are seeing and hearing it from every corner of the planet Earth’s media that you pass through.

One who chooses not to keep up with current events, or simply is too busy with the necessities of everyday life to contemplate them, may not be wondering why Chevron is so concerned with their PR image, or care for that matter. Fair enough. After all, it may or may not be very important to note that this whole “We Agree” ad blitz was conceived largely due to the $19 billion dollar fine given to Chevron (thanks to acquired subsidiary Texaco) by the Ecuadoran court system for fucking up Amazon rainforest resources. The suits outta San Ramon are real nervous that this could somehow spill into the American consumer spotlight somehow, and they want to make sure that their share of your hard earned dough continues to get into their bank accounts via your filling the ol’ jalopy’s gas tank using their extortion-level-priced pumps at the local Chevron station.

Look at it another way. There’s no telling that Chevron’s sins of the soil could manifest itself in the American justice system sooner or later, especially if people take a good hard look at the company’s track record in the U.S.A. alone. As a matter of fact, since Chevron has no assets in Ecuador, it could likely be decided by an American court to go after Chevron’s money in this country after all, in order to satisfy the Ecuadoran judgment. We could well be witnessing the most widespread and expensive attempted proactive jury tampering attempt in world history.

THE LABOR MOVEMENT. IT’S NOT JUST FOR UNIONS ANYMORE.

A lot of American workers nowadays seem to be afraid and/or mistrustful of organized labor, and that’s a damn shame. Many members of today’s workforce seem to take for granted the fact that the eight-hour day, forty-hour week, minimum wage and almost all of what can be considered employee benefits were established by the direct action and political efforts of labor and trade unions. In this writer’s opinion, I’d be willing to bet the farm that if the current lobbying work of business-related special interests is any indication, and if somehow said effort succeeds, those aforementioned accomplishments, which were quite literally earned through the bloodshed of our ancestors, will begin to gradually fade away and eventually disappear.

The corporate element of politics, with its accompanying infiltration of all levels of government, is making what seems like a full frontal assault upon the conditions and security of American workers regardless of whether said workers are organized or not. The robber barons of today, through their campaign funding of elected lapdogs in high and influential positions, are making a most dogged effort to turn back the clock to the “Good Ole Guilded” days of Jay Gould and Henry Clay Frick, which amounts to an ultimate goal to cultivate a cheap and easily manipulated workforce that will be willing to work for future pennies on the current wage dollar out of sheer desperation to survive.

Today’s organized labor needs to restructure and redefine its purpose and principle. Instead of a basic philosophy of solidarity in insulated pockets for the sake of self-protection and preservation, unions need to see themselves as the elite special strike force in the battle for workers’ rights, and in the name of every worker, not just those who are union members. Along with a concerted effort to network and unite with each other, unions should develop a focus on the big picture, in regards to broad outreach aimed at those who are not only fortunate enough to organize, but who, as a result of various circumstances, can’t or won’t join or form unions on their own.

Union membership has dwindled down to a mere 12% of the national work force. Imagine if you could only get even half of that “outside” 88 percent informed (and if successful, probably pissed off) enough to join in on the fun of organized assembly and protest. A situation where the true majority of working people are speaking out and asking questions can become a world in which we’d be talking about a credible threat to the “one percent” wealthy interests that are funding the maintenance of the current status quo.

It is time for the workers of the United States, all of us, with and without union membership, to start to think about how to defend our collective health and well being, not just for ourselves but for future generations as well. To ensure a promising start, we need to begin to talk amongst ourselves openly and fearlessly about who and what is trying to make our jobs as well as our lives, yea our very value as human beings, less significant, and what we can do to stop the efforts of such parties in their tracks. The corporate and moneyed interests may have the assets (for now), but as a force, we have the sheer human numbers.

The last time that I checked, the First Amendment had not been repealed (at least not yet), and the people of this nation still have the right to peacefully assemble on the streets and air grievances. The streets of the U.S.A. can be ours if necessary, as long as we simply go out and occupy them. We live along them, we paved them, we drive goods down them, and we worked and fought in the wars they instigated throughout our nation’s history to earn our rights to occupy them. Let’s take true control of them if we have to, and keep them.

THOSE FICKLE WASHINGTON BULLETS.

When it comes right down to it, the United States of America, in its government’s foreign policy just as in its popular culture, is a country that for the most part never really knows what the fuck it wants. Like the fads that are rapidly rotated through American media, the definition of what qualifies for the nation’s international alliance as well as aid to other nations seems to change directions with the wind, seemingly day by day.

Today is no different than the past for U.S. foreign policy, or at least for its more aggressive tendencies. It would be an amusing and thought provoking work of satire as a novel or film, but unfortunately it’s all too real, and not quite as entertaining or escapist if one contemplates the circumstances with any considerable level of thought. Here are the citizens of a number of nations, chiefly in the Middle East and Africa, whom are trying to overthrow rule of force and institute rule of law, which is allegedly the type of dissent that the U.S.A. enjoys seeing when it happens anywhere outside of its borders.

However, for various underlying nefarious reasons, Uncle Sam simply can’t seem to view dissent against certain regimes on an equal level to others. They arbitrarily criticize, selectively and somewhat covertly infiltrate and attack, then toss the ball to NATO (and let’s face it, the letters should more appropriately be capitalized nAto) to make things look like as much of an allied multinational effort as possible. Long before the recent controversial actions in Libya, the United States, its government, and that government’s various leaders have made incredibly Machiavellian moves on the world stage, from the darkly tragicomic (Bay of Pigs) to the downright reprehensible (the 1973 Chilean coup d'état). This type of political behavior needs to be relegated to the same historical garbage heap as slavery and Native American genocide.

There needs to be an approach of balance, where the American government makes the message clear. On one end of the scale, sovereignty needs to be respected as well as recognized for all nations, whether on the U.S.A.’s border or on the other side of the planet. On the other end of the scale, it must also be established that the expression of dissent is an essential human right, and any world government that does not respect this inherent human right will not be seen in a favorable light, with America's objections acted upon as change in interaction with said offenders, political, economic and otherwise, and carried out in a clear, humanitarian and uncompromising manner. Measures need to employ common sense and make no arbitrary exception. Efforts to address perceived abuses need to be carried out across the board based on clear and realistic principles of liberty and equality and not on selfish interests, most especially of the mere financial kind.

America doesn’t need to make friends with the whole rest of the world. It just needs to make it clear that the nation is going to make an effort to be good neighbors, minding to its own business and not being a volatile imperialist nuisance to everybody else in this neighborhood called Earth. In return it should expect the same from the world's neighbors, but as life teaches us by the time most of us become adults, all we can do is live in the example of how we expect to be treated by others. It’s only fair. It’s what America’s message and contribution to the world should be all about.

SACRAMENTO – PRESCRIPTIONS FOR A SICK CITY, PARTS ONE AND TWO.

Sacramento’s alleged civic leaders, as usual, are failing to come up with any kind of constructive ideas aimed at revitalizing general growth and improvement for the quality of life in our city.

Since a lot of people seem to sit around complaining a lot about what they perceive as the city’s shortcomings without any kind of suggestion as to improve things, I feel compelled to offer some thoughts of my own. It’s inevitable that some folks will not pay attention to what I have to say, or will vehemently disagree with my opinions, or simply look down their nose at me.

Well, fuck ‘em.

Regardless, I’m going to offer my two cents anyway. Ready? Here we go.


HOW TO DEAL WITH THE KINGS LEAVING TOWN.

I’m not really trying to pretend that I care either way if the Kings leave Sacramento or not, but gee, so many people with barely any real life whatsoever seem to be scared and disturbed by the prospect of the team pulling up stakes. It’s heart wrenching to witness. I’d better try to help.

This team has pretty much been a gypsy band for practically the entire total span of its existence. Back in the 1920’s, when the now-Kings were started up as a semi-pro company sponsored team, they were the Rochester Seagrams, which is appropriate because they’ve been stumbling across the U.S.A. from town to town in a drunken stupor ever since.

That’s the big problem here. They’re nobody’s team. They landed in Sacramento pretty much as a bargaining chip for part of a land rezoning scheme, and once the Natomas prairie was properly exploited, they were sold to a buncha out of town rich kids who washed down Carl’s Jr. burgers with a 24 year old bottle of French Bordeaux while a ballot measure was pushed (and voted down) to build them a new arena.

It’s time to start over, and I mean over.

First of all, let’s actually hope that the Kings get the fuck out of town. Once that’s done, the biggest mistake would be to try to get some other failing pro sports franchise to relocate to Sacramento. So that’s where the New Orleans Hornets come in.

Currently, the NBA owns the Hornets because the previous owners couldn’t get their shit together and had to sell the team to the league. They’re not faring too badly this season, with a decent home record, but they’re a disaster as a franchise, and therefore as a business.

Here's my suggestion. I put forth that Sacramento should push for a plan which sounds like something bordering on insanity, but hear me out. If anyone in this city with the money and ability is truly interested in keeping NBA ball in the area, here’s what should be done.

Approach the league and propose two things:

1. Dissolve the New Orleans Hornets franchise, and
2. Grant Sacramento the right to a brand new expansion team.

If this sounds rather pointless and illogical to some, let me explain my reasoning. On one level, we can have a team that is clearly made and grown in Sacramento, not some beat up jalopy that’s gotten into wrecks in other parts of the country. The new team’s local residents, and therefore potential new fans, can get involved in the naming and team colors and anything else that the new owners and anyone who is interested can think of and create a general good feeling of knowing that they are supporters of a truly hometown team from the beginning. I could care less about this type of stuff myself, but what the hell, I can see how it could be fun to go see a game occasionally or, who knows, maybe even riot with a rabid mob downtown after winning a league championship someday.

On another level, I also feel that starting from scratch could work out well in the long run. There would be the added benefit of an expansion draft where experienced players can be picked from other teams around the league. (It didn’t fare too badly for the Charlotte Bobcats, and by the way, the Bobcats picked Gerald Wallace off the Kings, who in turn became the Bobcats’ first All-Star, then was recently traded for three players and two draft picks.) Sure, expansion teams tend to suck for a while, but at least we’d have a true home team, and I’m thinking that the odds of a future NBA championship, as well as any (slim) chance of a new arena in the foreseeable future soon, would be much more closer to reality than the FUBAR franchise currently stinking up the Sacramento area.

There. I made a suggestion about the plight of the future of pro sports in this city. Now, here’s what I feel is a much more important one…


MAKE SACRAMENTO VIBRANT AS A CREATIVE CITY, NOT A PASSIVE ONE.

One of the oldest and most popular complaints about Sacramento is that its only saving grace is being conveniently located between the Bay Area and the Tahoe/Reno region. And we have never tried to use this as a serious selling point because… why?

Sacramento is the perfect area for the creative mind exactly because it is not an excessively problematic (and therefore not overly distracting) large metropolitan area, and to fortify that atmosphere, the median quality of life is actually quite enjoyable, especially compared to other parts of the country, or the world for that matter. Businesses (at the startup level and also those that are established and successful) which are seeking a new home would be stupid to overlook Sacramento as a potential base of operations. It will be a sad future for those of us still living here if this city becomes a stagnant pool of government jobs, with the mere alternative of retail and service work rounding out the employment picture and not much else. Various technical, professional and even manufacturing outfits could thrive here and some businesses of these types already are taking advantage of the area, though not nearly as much as should be.

By all means, this city’s leaders and shapers need to do everything possible to develop the “walkable workable neighborhood” concept. I consider myself very lucky to be working and living within a variety of available goods and services, not to mention decent restaurant and entertainment options and such, without needing to use an automobile or even a bicycle in most cases. I feel like part of a dying breed, and that is, quite frankly, a goddamned shame. An urban environment of that level should be pursued and developed into the norm, not written off as merely an anomaly that is perceived to be long extinct.

Most importantly, Sacramento needs to stop trying to be like other cities, or to be more accurate, avoid the tendency to beg, borrow and steal from the socio-cultural elements of other places. San Francisco did not copy Boston and Los Angeles did not rip off New York just like Boston did not co-opt London nor did New York schlep off in Amsterdam’s footsteps. All of these great cities have their own stories and shaped their own unique personalities and destinies.

People don’t flock to these places because they are reminded of someplace else, or there’s a really cool sports team in town, or there’s a bar with paid employees in mermaid costumes swimming around in a tank and winking at you as you drink. They move there and live there and love it in these cities because it makes them feel alive, somewhat accomplished and mostly satisfied, even hopeful, if not even entirely successful. There’s opportunity and energy and most importantly, a genuine heart to each city.

Sacramentans, ask yourselves: what is here that is unique and of superior quality and value, that we can celebrate as ours? It is all around us already, and has been all along. We just need to learn to recognize it.

There are so many wonderful people and places in and near Sacramento. I’m not going to play favorites at this moment by naming any of them specifically. I can tell you that, even for a deranged loner and part time hermit, I do feel fortunate to be living in this city. There are qualities here that aren’t the same, much less exist at all, in many other places out there. Sacramentans, for the most part, should feel somewhat thankful on a general level that they somehow ended up settling here, regardless of reason or circumstance.

If you want Sacramento to be a great place to live, make sure that it becomes a meaningful and enjoyable experience for the most part to live here. To do this, we have to be a city chiefly of thinkers and doers, and encourage the passive perpetually unsatisfied full time spectators, conformist clones and confused complainers to get in the game or step back.

If we do this, we will only attract like-minded people to want to be a part of the action.

And we can do it with or without a bunch of millionaires tossing a rubber ball through a hoop somewhere in town for 40 days a year.

That’s how the best and brightest of the cities of history grow and succeed. So let’s finally grow up and build an original city together.

CLASS WARFARE? COOL! SIGN ME UP!

"There’s class warfare, all right. But it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning." –Warren Buffett, New York Times Magazine November 2006

It’s a seemingly never ending effort for the plutocratic ruling class to control production, drive down wages and beat down and homogenize the labor force in the United States of America as well as the rest of the world.

We’re currently in a state of class warfare, all right. Unfortunately, the lower rung of the economic ladder, which also happens to be the majority of the working population, is fighting like 1939 Poland and/or behaving like 1940 Vichy France.

Yeah, a lot of you out there were pretty buzzed right after the Obama election, huh? Me too. Admittedly, I was a bit of a Johnny-Come-Lately but eventually the guy got to me, just like he did for millions of other progressively minded pissed off voters at the time, from all ages, ethnicity, and social stratification. I went to the polls and copped my hit, and we were LOADed that Tuesday night, aw shit, the whole three months afterward!

It was one Hell of a headache once the buzz started to wear off, eh?

Any of us who go out and actually work for a living, especially for someone else, have obviously learned a rather potent lesson about hope and change. Namely, that hope and change won’t make any difference in the election of an individual to public office, but rather that a populace united in hope must demand change, regardless of the political representation of the time.

It’s not the elected official who is going to improve the quality of life for the bottom eighty percent of the population which, by the way, has only about seven percent of the nation’s total financial wealth. It’s going to have to be an uprising of one form or another by that very majority. Furthermore, it seems that four out of five of us need to try to get to know each other a little bit better and figure out how we can work as a team in order to level the playing field against the remaining twenty percent. If the latest machinations of the Establishment Media and Corporate America against free speech, Internet content neutrality and the like are any indication, most of those “one out of five” are already forming a battle line aimed at suppressing our voices and abilities to question authority, access alternative information sources and express dissent.

In order to engage in anything resembling true class warfare, or a resurgence of working class activism at the least, there will need to be a sort of remedial education necessary in regard to the hell raising working class movements of the old times. A good way to look at the general strategy is like this: direct action is live action. While online social networking and similar technological methods are helpful on an organizational level, the most effective weapon of change is direct live dialogue. It’s time to stop staring at the screen and walk outside to start talking about the world around us, as well as what to do about our lives and our current challenges, face to face. A line of communication from person to person, one person at a time, can work wonders.

We are all living beings, and not robots under the remote control of a ruling class. No matter how hard that the moneyed oligarchs try to get us to believe they are our overlords, we need to keep letting each other know that our only support in overcoming this attempted clampdown is from each other. Whatever it takes, be it something along the lines of mass labor disruption, collective product boycotts, or just plain old fashioned nonviolent protest and resistance, the sense of common need among us needs to be recognized and acted upon, and soon.

I’m calling out to you. It’s time to get out there and start talking amongst us. What do we really want, and how are we going to get it done?

I’m in. All in. Talented terrors of the American working class, unite to fight.

Let’s go to war.

DEAR RICH PEOPLE OF AMERICA: TIME TO KICK DOWN.

AN OPEN APPEAL TO THE INCOMING AND RETURNING MEMBERS OF BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS:

Dearest Esteemed Representatives and Senators,

Get a fucking clue.

Yeah, sure, a lot of folks out there think I’m wasting my time to be trying to tell you this, but I’ll try anyway.

In these times of spiraling unemployment, rapidly exported living wage jobs and increasingly hard times for homeowners and working class families, any amount of economic relief helps greatly.

On the other hand, people in this country who are earning over a quarter of a million dollars annually do not need to worry about where their next meal is coming from, much less maintaining a roof over their heads.

Anyway, I've heard that you need to do something about the federal budget deficit.

Oh, cry me a river.

The decision is simple here. Tax hikes for the rich, tax breaks for the poor. The rich are not suffering from the slings and arrows of the past two years. Working families and people living just above the poverty line and lower are.

Back in the colonial days, the Crown was accused of “taxation without representation”. Nowadays, all of you are obviously whores for the corporate and otherwise wealthy interests. You accept the price, and do the act, in the secondary definition of Webster’s, “to corrupt by lewd intercourse”, that is, political intercourse is lewdly corrupted. No one in the working class should expect that to change soon. If only in the interest of fairness, less representation should be accompanied by less taxation.

So, I implore you to do the right thing, and give the tax breaks, for once, to the citizens of this nation who really need it. In other words, drop the partisan rhetoric, grow some pubic hair, and just do it.

The people who are truly keeping our country in working order are watching. Don’t let them down. Perhaps you need to learn a lesson about what happens when the rich minority is mollycoddled too much and the workers of the nation are scorned and taken for granted.

AND NOW, AN OPEN APPEAL TO THE WORKERS OF AMERICA:

I’m ready to organize. I’ll never mourn.

Workers of America, feel free to organize with me anytime. Don’t say you were never invited.

XTRANORMAL. I'M BORED ALREADY. (DIRECTOR'S CUT.)

CALIFORNIA. AHEAD OF THE LEARNING CURVE.

I never thought that I would ever declare the following sentiment, at least with any marked degree of seriousness.

Thank God that I’m a Californian.

As a matter of fact, thank God that I’m in Sacramento, in Midtown, and what the Hell, since I’m in a generous moment of spiritual gratitude, thank God that I’m on the block I live on.

We told not one, but two former CEOs (one who was trying to buy the state governor’s office, and another who was trying to brainwash us that she was somehow going to represent anyone resembling real persons and not corporations in the United States Senate),through a majority of the vote, to fuck off. We also came out relatively unscathed (with no real change in our House of Representative members) in a year when Fux News was highly successful in selling high fructose Kool-Aid to the mass electorate of so-called Flyover America, the effect of which has now populated our Congress as well as Senate with a whole shitload of village idiots and snake oil salesmen who somehow bamboozled their local populace into thinking that their out of state big business fueled campaign contributions are going to somehow translate into representation by and for “the people”. While I agree that “the people” have spoken, if translated from Politicalese into plain English, the phrase emanated would be somewhat along the lines of, “Send you to Washington D.C. in exchange for sole ownership of the Brooklyn Bridge? Sure thing partner! Can’t beat that deal with a stick!”

Having already seen similar exercises in ballot box stupidity in previous decades, I don’t feel that sad or pessimistic about the results this time, although, as I’ve mentioned previously, being in the particular (truly golden) state in which I currently reside greatly softens the blow. If anything, my first impulse toward these unfortunates is somewhat a feeling of pity in their effort to try to placate their general frustration toward the powers that be, whether real or perceived, about things like chronic unemployment, shrinking payrolls and opportunities for business growth, a general discouragement of realizing what can be described generally as the American Dream, and the like.

They’re not necessarily unjust or incorrect in their sentiments nowadays. They just need to learn how to think it through when determining who is actually going to represent them, and also who is going to do so by fighting for what’s really going to help them attain a better life for all Americans, and in turn, build a better, stronger and more prosperous and secure nation all around.

But instead, too many of them teamed up with bunches of corporate-fascist whores who, among other stupid reasons, are pissed off because a black guy got elected President. However, there's no crying over spilt milk. The damage has been done and like a strange course of natural disaster we must tolerate the damages and casualties to a certain degree.

I feel that it is just a matter of self-education by trial and error. People will figure out that they fucked up and the next two years should be fun to watch, that is, if you are a big fan of gridlock and partisan bickering as comedy. One interesting byproduct of November 2010 is the fact that many of the so called Blue Dog Democrats, those elected representatives who are donkeys of the moderate to conservative persuasion, lost numbers dearly in their respective re-election attempts. Thus, the new Democratic minority in the House is now lean, mean, shamelessly progressive, labor friendly and hopefully willing to provide some obstructionist payback when need be.

This new attitude remains to be seen, of course, seeing as there are already mumbles in the lame duck Congress about compromise and all that shit. If anything, I envision a House full of proposed bargain deals for the gazillionaires whose contibutions had won a seat for many a 2011 freshman in the House chambers, fulla tax breaks on top of the extended Dubya-era kind, with all kinds of relaxations on those inconvenient environmental and safety regulations and the like. What the Hell, they may well introduce a “Minimum Wage and Eight Hour Day Elimination Blowout” and “Social Security Sundown Extravaganza” to boot.

Hopefully the still Democrat-controlled Senate and White House can know when to say “You are out of your fuckin’ minds!” and fight back when needed, but I suppose that will be a wait-and-see situation, at least for now. Either way, it seems that we will have a lot of hooting and hollering and arguing in Washington D.C. for the next two years, and in my humble prediction, a whole lot of nothing actually being accomplished. What will the people who comprise the American voting public learn after this next Congressional term? If past election trends are any indication, not a whole Hell of a lot. They’ll just scamper along with the next Pied Piper who shows up with an appealing melody.

God help us all.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY. WEEK. MONTH. WHATEVER.

Where's that bee and where's that honey?
Where's my God and where's my money
Unreal values, crass distortion
Unwed mothers need abortion
Kind of brings to mind ol' young King Tut (He did it now)
Tried to make it real — compared to what?!

- Eugene McDaniels, "Compared To What"

HEY, YA LAZY BUM, GET OFF YER ASS AND GET ONE FIFTH OF A JOB.

I’ve got to admit it. Considering that today’s job hunt for unemployed Americans currently resembles something akin to playing hockey with a bladeless stick, I have felt very thankful and lucky to be able to hold gainful employment for a living wage through this entire recent period of economic recession. Well, if I had my druthers, I’d call it a depression, but that’s not the current chic term amongst the in-crowd so I’ll roll with it.

Somehow, I don’t feel that fortunate or even accomplished. Like the old saying goes, there but for the grace, yadda, yadda, yadda. There are plenty of qualified individuals out there, many of them way more educated and able than myself, who could do my job as well or better. And as a matter of fact, with all of the layoffs and buyouts and attrition-related elimination of positions at my current place of employment, I would be more than willing to see as many new hires as possible joining alongside me in my department right around now.

Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen and there’s really nothing I can do to change or control that. As a matter of fact, I’m sure that there is a massive amount of thought and energy being utilized right now to make sure that I am sent out the door, under a security guard’s escort and carrying a box of my personal possessions, as soon as they can possibly pull it off.

According to certain general estimates, there are five people vying for each employment position available in America as of today. This estimate, of course, ignores among other things what types of jobs are out there for hire as well as the specific qualifications of the job seekers. It’s just the cold literal statistic, which means that applicants out there are likely to be seeing competition in the form of hundreds, or even thousands, of fellow job seekers knocking at the door of any particular employer who is hiring at the unskilled entry level.

Between the end of 2007 and end of 2009, private industry got rid of 8 and a half million jobs. There is a slow restoration pattern, as jobs are slowly being created once again. Unfortunately, it’s something akin to an inadequate transfusion after a huge loss of blood. It might keep the economy alive, but not anywhere near decent health.

And meanwhile, a certain element of pundits, politicians, and other devoted groupies of capitalism are proclaiming to anyone who will listen that things just, wal, ain’t as bad as they seem. As a matter of fact, if unemployment insurance benefits in this country weren’t extended for so many months to a lot of jobless people, well, they wouldn’t be so inclined to sit back and slack off on that UI assistance windfall! Oh, sure, there’s nothing that makes people less motivated to achieve than suddenly having their income cut by nearly in half or so of their former job’s paycheck! Well, maybe a gun in their backs, perhaps.

We need to face reality. It’s the 21st century global economy and in this world, people can’t just choose between being a butcher, a baker or a candlestick maker in order to put a roof on their heads and food on their tables. For the majority of us working stiffs, we are currently at the mercy of megalomaniac business interests. To argue over how, why or whether the machine has been allowed to spin so wildly out of control is too close to mulling over moot points for consideration.

If the plague of “Middle America” voter sympathy to the current crop of right-wing extremist propaganda is any indication, the politicians are going to increasingly pander to the corporate and otherwise moneyed interests by expanding tax breaks and loosening environmental and labor regulations and the like. People, it would seem, are simply out of constructive ideas. At the very least, those who do have anything resembling practical strategies are either ignored or simply lack an effective means of publicity.

And don’t expect the corporate conglomerates to be feeling any sympathy to the domestic workforce very soon. Look at it this way: any current American job that does not require putting your hands on something (except manufacturing), or having direct in-person contact with other people is ripe for sending overseas. Companies like India’s Infosys are living large off of the backs of the past, present and future members of America’s unemployment lines.

There are any number of optional tactics to consider in regard to remedies that struggling working people, whether employed or not, can take in this day and age. I can’t say that I have any miracle cure to suggest, but what the hell, I can at least try to examine some possibilities here.

One option could be for as many of the presently corporate employed workers as possible to quit their respective companies and venture into their own independent occupation. But as I had suggested earlier, this plan would have little if any basis in today’s reality. This would take a marked degree of risk and sacrifice, and few would likely take either at this point in time. (I would begrudgingly include myself in that refusal.)

Another option would be to organize and take steps en masse to address grievances and concerns, standing in unity against those who are in control of most of the labor and commerce. Again, this involves risk and sacrifice as well, but approaches much closer to a possibility of some degree of success. It all depends upon the willingness of the people in our labor force to cooperate and support each other. Those days of organized mass dissent and protest, in the eyes of many, are long gone.

And then again, those of us who aren’t wealthy or won’t be getting rich soon can simply cease to spend money as quickly, and, better yet, also cease to spend ourselves into debt.

While it is most unrealistic for many of today’s American consumers to completely boycott goods that are manufactured overseas, it is entirely possible to slow down the profits from the sale of said goods. Those shoes, chairs, computers and such can probably last in good condition for a lot longer time than many folks would like to freely admit. Plus, there are fashion styles that transcend eras. A steady level of economic compromise, taken by a fairly large number of citizens in this country, can go a long way to hit and hurt the profit line of large corporations. Of course, anything that can be substituted with domestic and especially locally produced goods and services can be the most viable option of all.

It’s already in place at a noted level nowadays. People are spending less, and with a little luck, this trend will continue for quite some time. It simply could not happen to a nicer free market economy…heh.

JUST WHERE DID THEY GET THAT "RESTORING HONOR" MANTRA ANYWAY? OH, YEAH...

In case anybody's wondering about why Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin et al were so goshdarned worked up about "restoring America's honor" at the rally held on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 2010 (and sadly, on the anniversary of MLK's "I Have A Dream" speech), a simple Google search ought to give you some answers.

Click Here, Pilgrim

THEIR COUNTRY RIGHT OR WRONG, EXCEPT WHEN THEY DISAGREE WITH ITS COURT DECISIONS.

Yessiree, if there were only one thing left that I would ever love about the U.S. of A., it would certainly be the document created to be the supreme law of the land.

The United States Constitution may have a somewhat chequered past with various parties in its interpretation and implementation, but it’s that very fluctuation and ongoing evolving dialogue about its meaning and significance which makes it so enduring and useful over the decades of our country’s history.

Even during the term of one President or another who I have absolutely despised sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office, my faith in the wisdom and basic principles of justice which the Constitution puts forth has helped me to cope with the disagreeable times and also has ensured my sense of hope in the future of our nation.

In a very similar way that two people develop a loving and trusting relationship toward each other, I feel that in order for me to love the Constitution, I need to accept the whole of the document. I also need to be able to work out and rationalize the controversies, real or perceived faults, and such.

That’s why I can’t seem to help but be both perplexed and amused with the number of folks who had seemingly fallen asleep during the part of their junior high school civics class when their respective teachers started to go over the points regarding the three branches of government as designed by the United States Constitution. This relative ignorance seems to be particularly showing in these people when they find a decision at the Federal judicial level to be disagreeable to their personal opinion or moral principles.

Oh sure, there’s some decisions which have made it all the way up to the Supreme Court (and these matters of contention usually do) which I have found, throughout history, to be what I would personally condemn as reprehensible. A few examples that I can come up with are:

-Scott v. Sandford , 60 U.S. 393 (1857). Now that, I don’t think that was a highlight in American civil rights history, but rather a lowlight, ya know whut I’m sayin?

-Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896). IMHO, this was a particularly suckass move by the SCOTUS.

-Then there’s Lochner v. New York, 198 U.S. 45 (1905), which wasn’t exactly a cause for celebration on the part of the nation’s working class.

Then again, I feel like there were brighter spots for me to contemplate, like:

-Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). For some reason, 1954 seemed to be a year when the Supremes started to get it right in general.

-Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965). Married couples are entitled to a right to privacy in how they conduct their boudoir activities. Fancy that.

-And on a sorta related note, there’s Loving v.Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967). “Racial Integrity”, eh, Virginia? Nice try. But no, not really, not even close. “Racial Intolerance Act of 1924”, retrospectively, is probably a more accurate term for what I feel this particular Supreme Court decision had flushed down the toilet of history.

The point I’m trying to make: regardless of the acts of our various branches of government, there has never been any need for me to throw the baby out with the bathwater and dismiss the role of an entire branch of the Fed just because I disagree with its decision. So next time I hear someone start rambling on about “activist judges” and how he or she moans about how the vote of the people has been dismissed by a court decision, or some stupid shit like that, I’ll just be hopeful that someday, people who talk like that will someday stumble across a copy of the U.S. Constitution, read it a bit more carefully (or, Hell, for many of them it would seem, actually bother to read it for once), and finally get a clue.