Socialism, Society, and America

I'm angry, I'm always angry unless there is something distracting happening to mask the anger. Today, the anger is about everyone's apparent glee about a Florida millionaire adopting a neighborhood with his riches and helping it out. I don't want to rain on the parade, but more than that, I've learned that raining on the parade subjects me to all kinds of anger from those who have yet to grasp the things I find to be self evident.

1. We are social beings and the only solution to our problems will be to work together.
2. America has been poisoned by decades of anti-Communist propaganda into thinking that any collective effort will lead to totalitarianism.
3. Individual efforts, while excellent for making dents in large problems, only go so far, and certainly not far enough.
4. Monied interests will always want to keep their money.

Ugh, I'm sure the list could go on longer and longer. I could get into how tribalism and racism are at the root of many of our struggles - sexism is there too, but it manifests slightly differently. People think Obama is getting crap because he's black, and yeah, that's happening, but he wouldn't have an easier time if he was white, because he's a Democrat. Anyone who thinks he would be riding high if he was white have forgotten the Clinton administration. And don't even talk to me about how the media would be treating him. Back in the 1990's, we were just starting the "both sides" rhetoric, and now it's so culturally ingrained that no one can even mention that one side might be wrong without adding useless equivocation. The nation has been gaslighted by reactionary monied interests for so long now that we no longer know right from wrong. Well, some of us anyway.

Sigh.

I know there are people out there who get it, and I'm actually somewhat hopeful, but damned if I'm not angry. Because these people who now get it were staying home in November 2010 when they could have prevented all this shit from happening in the first place. It was spring 2011 when people finally woke up, and by then it was too late. TOO LATE.

We got screwed with gerrymandered districts in 2012 because too many people didn't get it, too many people were convinced that their vote didn't matter, that nothing mattered, that because Obama couldn't make manna come down from heaven that it was "time to give the Republicans a chance". FUCK THAT! Republicans HAD their chance, they've had too many chances, and each one sucked, but you wouldn't know, because the people who should be telling you are living in the both-sides fallacy.

Then there are the people who were barely paying attention who all wonder "where it went wrong". They think that there was a time in America's past where we had it right, a time when we all cared about each other and things were great. Even intelligent, savvy people who have paid attention fall into this trap, but the truth is, the individualistic, screw everyone mentality is a CORE AMERICAN VALUE. Every single non-Native, not-descended-from-slaves person in this country came here to make it on their own. They left families, left towns, or left countries to "be free" from their old society. Then when they set up society on the east coast, some of them left to be even more "free" to go west and really live on their own. No, our past was not a socialist paradise, our past was a ruthless, cutthroat, dirty, dangerous, horrible hellhole that people somehow managed to survive long enough to have children in.

Even the period of time after WWII wasn't great if you weren't white or male, and even then, it still wasn't that great. It was a blip on the horrible history of our country, a random, uneven blip of sort-of okayness for some people that's gone now. We remember it as so great because the popular narrative of the time paints it that way, but millions of white men lived with untreated PTSD, raising kids with an iron fist, like their father did. Millions of women were frustrated and bored, full of resentment that they couldn't place. Millions of black people weren't much better off than they had ever been in this nation. Shit was bad, shits always been bad, and if we want to improve this shit, we have to get over the paranoia about working together. We have to literally go against every fucking thing that brought our ancestors, or ourselves, to this rock, and get over it. So I'm angry, angry about the bad rep socialism gets, angry about the failure of society, and angry about the reality of America.

Waiting for Something Big

I'm just a single person with an occasional double-digit view count. This blog isn't indexed by the search engines and I rarely link to anything. Yet I still have this blog where I air views and feelings that might be best kept private. It's a way of putting things out there in a literal sense without being as out there as I could be. It's like going into a lonely alley at 5am and giving a speech. Maybe a homeless person or early-morning commuter will hear a line or two, but they won't actually care.

I've been quiet about this opinion because it's wrong to have it and the consequences of getting what I want are bad for a lot of people, even for me. But goddamnit if I don't want the United States to go over the fucking cliff right now. We keep getting right to the edge, then get pulled back a few inches, only to start going toward it again. We never have the a-ha moment we need, we never "get it", we never realize that the stupid actions that half of our country does is causing this calamity because mommy keeps saving us from ourselves.

I'm tired of it, I'm so fucking tired of it at this point. We need shocking because prodding isn't working. The corporate media structure needs to be dismantled, we need universal healthcare, we need to stop spending so much on the war machine, we need a higher minimum wage and unions for service workers, we need to raise the capital gains tax and taxes on the highest marginal incomes, and we can't get there because the decision makers think everything is "okay" the way it is. So let's just do it and get it over with. Keep the government shut down, default on our debts, crash the fucking stock market. Let's burn this motherfucker down so we can get some real change going on here.

But I hate myself for saying this, and I hate myself for thinking this. I know that the loss to my measly 401k is nothing compared to the losses others will face. I'm not talking about losses faced by millionaires and billionaires - they won't go hungry or homeless - but I do care about the 95-98-99% of us who will still take a massive hit. I worry about the people who will go hungry and be homeless when the economy crashes. Collateral damage is ugly, but in my most honest of opinions, I think it is the only way out of this mess.

Let's hope I am wrong.

The World is a Strange, Ugly, Horrible, Beautiful, Scary Place

I'm not sure what I can do now. There are so many things happening around me right now, so many horrible things going down and so many misconceptions right next to me that I'm lost. I have an opportunity to share the things I've learned with people who need to know them, but I'm suddenly afraid.

The conversations I have online and with my friends come from a place of mutual understanding. We take it as a given that all people are born with rights, with dignity and the possibility to succeed, but they are born into circumstances that might stop them before they start. The circumstances might stop them before they are even born. I know that I'm where I am because of the privilege of my skin and my place of birth, not just because I'm smart and work hard. I was allowed to be smart, and people noticed my work, and now they reward it. There are many more people like me that aren't where I am now.

I see the future and it looks like the past, but which past? I'm afraid of re-living dark days, afraid of shanty towns in my own country, people suffering needlessly. I'm within the top 10% of earners in this country, but I can barely imagine living on less at this point. How do the rest of us do it?

All my hopes are pinned on 2014 right now - Republicans are so far past the light that they think they can read in the dark. I've got money to shield me now, but it is little solace. I can't pretend the world is alright just because I am. I was raised a hell of a lot better than that.

Cut Down All My Good Times, I Know Right from Wrong

I remember all the concern about the debt when Clinton got into office. I was a pre-teen, so I didn't know much about recent history, but I saw all kinds of numbers and pressure on Democrats to cut spending. John Stossel was always calling out government excesses on 20/20, and it shocked me. Then, there was a budget surplus in 2000, but I didn't care because I was a kid hypnotized by the "both sides are the same" rhetoric of the Green Party. They had their points, and my state went for Gore, but I won't make that mistake again.

Suddenly, the debt didn't matter. Then there was spending and spending and spending. Dick Cheney said that deficits didn't matter. I learned more about the Clinton years. I learned that the Republicans just became anti-Clinton, even for legislation that they supported during the Bush 1 presidency.

Then Obama was president, and like clockwork, all of the Clinton era crap came back. The national debt mattered and Republicans were lock-step obstructionists. I have no illusions that Republicans have the nation's best interests at heart because I've seen their real behavior. I've fancied myself a Republican, I've been a radical leftist, and now I'm in the center - ready to face real problems and create solutions where everyone benefits. I know that this means rejecting the Republican party and I'm not ashamed. History played out in front of my now 31-year-old eyes, and I paid attention.

Soaring

I felt this incredible sensation when I came home from my vacation in August, like our society is on a great precipice. We could go crashing down, or take off, and soar. There are so many people out there, creating amazing art, and doing wonderful things. So many more people are seeing through the lies, through the bullsh*t than ever before.

There is a lot of talk about the generations, and it seems as if we have been preparing for the boomers to retire for a long time now. Only a few of them are retiring, right now, since it was their idiotic economic policies that drove the stock market up, then left it in the ditch. They also seem content on dismantling the social safety net that their parents toiled for, but only for part of their generation, and those that came afterwards.

This generation, my generation, once dubbed Generation Y, and now lumped in with millenials, grew up after all the generational fervor that the boomers went though. We noticed how they spit on their parents' traditions, and how their parents blamed them for everything wrong in their world, then sent them off to war.

We heard about how the greatest minds of their generation were destroyed by madness, only to be held down, ourselves, by the minds that were left over. We endured the same criticisms about our music that they endured about theirs, yet we didn't turn around and spurn the Rolling Stones or Motown. In fact, many of us own more vinyl now than they maybe ever did.

The boomers taught us, provided for us, gave us everything they never had, and when we grew up, we actually were grateful. Sad, however, that so few of them are noticing. The people my age seem to be respectful of their elders, and excited to hear all of the stories. I may roll my eyes when a man in his 60's speaks wistfully of the old Haight-Ashbury days, but that is only because I've heard it all before. The 20-somethings listening to him are indeed interested, and really do want to know more.

The Class of 2000 have families now, and I see them when I go for walks. They are outside, at the playground, with their kids. They are walking through the grocery store, picking out vegetables for dinner. But I also see them in other places, struggling in low-paying jobs, and using drugs to escape their turmoil. They are shying away from jobs with large organizations, because they don't want to give up their freedoms, and don't like the idea of stifling their creativity.

They may take a low-level job for the health insurance, but they will only do the minimum, because their heart isn't in it. Meanwhile, the person that wants that job is stuck in another job, for that same health insurance. Give them health insurance that isn't related to a job - ensure their guaranteed health care, no matter what they do - and the qualified but uninterested will quit, making way for the questionably qualified, but eager people, who are actually interested in doing that job. Then watch as the newly freed people fill up those abandoned storefronts. Imagine a downtown district that gets cleaned every day, creative shops, bustling eateries, and friendly neighbors.

We are on a great precipice this year. We can either go down the deep end, spurring anger, and riots, or we can stop this fighting, stop resisting reality, talk to our neighbors, jump off this cliff, and soar.

No One Knows

If Obama wins. If the Democrats take the House and have a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. What would be so horrible for America, for American business, for so many Americans, that they are working themselves into a frothing rage, throwing good money at this, and blatantly cheating to get what they want. What is truly so frightening? What horrible things would happen?

I'm sorry for their lost years, I really am. I'm sorry that the things that were taught them turned out to be wrong. I want no harm to come to anyone. I'm just tired of seeing people sleeping in the street, and I think that we can do better. Really, their worst nightmares can't be much worse than this.

Stupid Fear Mongering

This week, at a location that I go to, a person that goes to the same location announced to me and another person that Google made a deal with the government, the federal government, that allows the government to spy on our email. I was dubious, but didn't bother to ask clarifying questions about the source of the information. Despite lying to me several times, and despite the fact that we both know about the lies, this person gets real defensive when I display any skepticism of any claims.

I figured that a deal of that kind would show up on the news websites that I read, but I didn't see anything about it. So, today, I searched for 'federal government can read gmail' and got to an article about some people who are suing Google because they think someone there is reading their email. You can read the details of that case yourself, but the interesting part of this article came at the end, with a note about a letter from 11 Republican members of Congress to the President about a proposed executive order.

Proposed, not executed, not signed, but proposed, which means that it is not in effect yet, nor has Google done anything to comply. But, having once been a Government Documents Reference Librarian, or, if I want to sound like I speak Klingon, since I once worked the Ref Desk at Gov Docs, I did a little searching to find all Executive Orders. I started at Thomas.gov, which is linked on the right, used a few of the links to find the Executive Branch site, then did a search on there to find out that the Executive Orders are on the White House's site.

Can you guess which one isn't there? Yeah, that's right.

Furthermore, because it is proposed, we, the people, can use our knowledge of the proposal to urge our president to not sign it. Funny thing, us having a democracy and all. All we have to do is, you know, participate in it.

My Offensive Reality: Roots of Problems and Lady Boys

On Friday morning, I walked around Berkeley and North Oakland while listening to a lot of Soul music. My walk took me to the UC Berkeley campus, and got there just in time to see all the students going to their 9am classes. I wanted to buy some CDs, but the record stores did not open until later, one at 11, and another at 10:30. Even Moe's did not open until 10am, so I went to a breakfast place that supports the no sit-lie proposition for Telegraph & other places in Berkeley. Personally, I wish we had better public mental health services and a more thriving economy to solve the persistent begger problem in Berkeley, but it seems easier to make it more illegal to be poor in America.

I went home and watched RuPaul's Drag Race, where a couple of episodes broached the question of people being legally forbidden to marry - not because they are too young, or deemed mentally incompetent, but because the other competent adult that they want to marry isn't of the opposite sex. Another episode went over the contestant's journeys in life, and the struggles they have had with acceptance from their families. The other parts of the shows were fabulous, with incredible costumes, makeup, singing, and dancing. One show asked the contestants to be rock 'n' roll singers, and sing RuPaul's own song called Lady Boy. The song is about the essence of being a Drag Queen, in my opinion. That of a man, who does not want to be a woman, but who enjoys dressing up, putting on makeup, wigs, and high heeled shoes to become completely fabulous, glamorous, and carefree. I know that everyone has difference preferences, but I don't understand people who would never want to experience that for themselves.

Returns

Democracy requires an informed citizenry, so be informed: Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Large Facilities.

I'm Not Alone

I was raised on America, the land of the free, the home of the brave, where anyone - even you - could be President. Democracy meant we all had a voice, and history laid out triumphs of the powerless against the powered. The African American experience engrossed me as a teenager, and we read about the struggles our ancestors had to go through to get us the things we took for granted. I remembered my education teaching me a good sense of respect for my ancestors' struggles and a proper understanding of corporate interests.

We all react to and retain information differently, but every year, for a few years at least, at least 100 8th Graders in my school saw Glory (with Denzel Washington & Matthew Broderick, I think) in History class. Everyone with the same teacher for our 10th grade social studies watched another movie about the origin of a labor union, staring Sally Field. In 7th grade English, we watched a movie about a teenage black boy who suddenly finds himself thrown back in time, to the antebellum southern America. I know from my Facebook page that many of the people that I grew up around must have learned something similar. And Occupy Wall Street looks like people my age.

This is our generation in action. We are watching our parents and grandparents claim that the Social Security that saved the elderly of The Depression from starvation and the Medicare that lets them go to the doctor when necessary is good for them, but we can forget about it. I know I'm not the only one that wants the same retirement that the last few generations got. We will not be content with this obvious concentration of wealth, and we will not let our parents and grandparents take a giant dump on our future. I do get the sense that we are not embracing this generational concept, in part because these movements are being attended by the parents and grandparents who get it, but also because it is hard to think we're rebelling as we fight the battles that we thought our great grandparents already won.

Cause for Concern

Irene grew to a size of the Southeastern United States. An official at the Department of Atmospheric Research at Colorado State University described, "If you were to just put it on a map of the United States, it could go from South Florida to Pennsylvania, and from North Carolina to eastern Oklahoma." (Mitch Weiss and Samantha Gross, "Huge storm churns up East Coast", Associated Press via San Francisco Chronicle, August 28, 2011)

This is a big storm, and it is dumping inches of rain on the east coast. Oddly enough, the ground there cannot handle the 5 or 6 inches of rain because it is saturated. As it happens, there has been unusually high rainfall this year.

The National Hurricane Center at NOAA is putting our tax dollars to good use by monitoring these storms so we can prepare. We will need that this year as there is another named storm right on Irene's heels. The yellow spot is an area of atmospheric activity that has below a 30% chance of becoming a hurricane (actual, 10%). The orange spot has a 30-50% chance (actual, 40%).

I don't want to forget about the scientific method in all this, which helped us examine the skys appropriately both directly and indirectly by helping to create the ability to even get images of our planet like this. Remember to thank science that the death toll is in the single and double digits, instead of quadruple and quintuple. Of course, one could argue that science caused all of this in the first place, but at least we can use it to protect ourselves too.

Free Speech and Dangerous Delusions

After walking Steve to work yesterday, I bummed around Telegraph and stopped across from the Delusion Corner to observe. For the longest time, some Jesus Crispies have been preaching near a fenced off plot of land at the northeast corner of Telegraph and Haste. The used to use the natural volume of their voice, and hand out fliers. Then they got microphones, and now they have a rock band.

The music, itself, wasn't that bad, and had they just used their instruments, it might have been a nice backdrop for shopping, but there was singing too. At first, the songs were inanely delusional - stuff that would cause an individual to waste her life following someone's fever dream, but nothing that impacts me - but then they pissed me off. In a litany of things we should trust Jesus for, they claimed that we should trust in him for our government and economy.

I had set myself up on the southwest corner of the intersection to observe in amusement, but I was furious. I stated "No we shouldn't" a couple of times, but not loudly. For all the idiots whining about Sharia Law, here was someone with a permit issued by the city declaring his wish to undermine the constitution for religious purposes. I angrily wondered how to get these idiots off the street, but then I remembered.

Long ago, I saw a video clip of an interchange happening in the middle of the 20th century between someone speaking out in favor of Communism and some observing US Soldiers. I think the interchange was staged, for propaganda purposes. The Communist had his standard speech and one of the soldiers said [roughly]:

You should be happy to live in the United States, where you are free to say these things.

The legal precedent of our nation also allows these people to say what they want, even with amplifying devices, on the street. So while the authoritarian in me wanted to shut these idiots down, I decided instead to observe and record their now less than amusing delusions.

I got audio of a song with a completely contradictory message, and observed a completely indifferent crowd pass by the band and the people handing out fliers. My initial fury gave way to a larger perspective. Just as communists can say what they want, even about "radical revolution", so too can these people, and it looks to be just as productive.

The Price of Freedom

We have paid with blood before, but it would be nice if rich people would invest in us a little more. They could take that money they've been holding on to and just start hiring more people to do things. I mean, the infrastructure needs help, our city sewers could use an upgrade, schools and public areas need upkeep, and millions need simply put their skills to good use by doing something.

Oh, I forgot - only government does those things... I guess, then, that we need to figure out how to increase the revenue of the government. The best way to do this is to remove the tax break they got during the bubble that isn't doing shit to create jobs right now.

Warren Buffet and Bill Gates want to be taxed more. They know that the best charity out there is the US Federal Government. Only that body can reach all needy people because it is required to. Grow up, teatards. Stop demanding that people that make thousands of times more than you do get to keep more money than you make in a decade. They get to do this each damn year, while you get nothing.

We lowered taxes on the rich so they would create jobs, but they aren't creating jobs. They're waiting for housing prices to go up first, but those won't go up until the unemployment rate is cut down from 10%. So, are we just expecting a mass die-off of the unemployed? Why not just create some damn jobs???!

Seriously? Spending cuts? That's the policy you think is vitally necessary for economic growth? Spending cuts? Because — what? Unemployment is too low for your taste? God save us.

It is time we grow up and take responsibility for our country. We need governance, not politics.

I Guess it's Not That Bad

Oscar Grant is scheduled to come back to life in two years anyway.

Update: It isn't even two years, Mehserle gets to count the time served, so he will be out in seven months! Apparently, justice only has compassion for someone if that person is a police officer who killed someone. All I know is that guy better never show his face in the East Bay again.

The Giant #&$%up is Revealed!

Yes, in day two of testimony before the publicly elected leaders of our government, the leaders of huge private companies - and indeed the rest of the world - learned more about the platform explosion that will significantly* #&$% up our Gulf Coast.

This morning, I heard that yesterday, the executives played a little game. Transocean said that this was actually caused by the bad cement job done by Halliburton, and Haliburton puts this right back in the hands of the main company at hand, BP. BP, of course, goes back to Transocean, since it was their equipment.

Apparently, it was shoddy workmanship all around. Someone cut corners, several someones cut corners, and the world pays. The executives didn't have many mea culpas, which is really in their best interest, and they may be equally to blame, after all.

Today, Transocean said that if a certain battery was dead (which it was), their sensors would have told them, but [oops] they were lost in the wreck.

One of our publicly elected leaders responded with

"The American people expect you to have a response comparable to the Apollo project, not 'Project Runway,'" -- Washington Post article by Steven Mufson and David A. Fahrenthold

My take is that we reached the limit of our ability to drill for oil under the ocean. Setting the record ain't all its cracked up to be.

*Well, depending on which state governor you hear. Crist and Jindal are shitting their pants, but, the Mississippi state governor isn't worried at all.

Government is Us

I like the meaning of the statements I am reading and hearing. I do wish that the great quotes were grammatically better, or, at least not passive sentences. Short, simple words, spoken in an active tone make for amazing lines.

... the only thing we have to fear is fear itself...

... ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.

Still, many of Obama's lines inspired me, as I hope they can inspire the rest of my fellow citizens.

"We can't expect to solve our problems by tearing each other down."

"...this kind of vilification and over-the-top rhetoric closes the door to the possibility of compromise."

"It may make your blood boil. Your mind may not be changed. But the practice of listening to opposing views is essential for effective citizenship."

"When our government is spoken of as some menacing, threatening foreign entity, it ignores the fact that in our democracy, government is us."

-AP News Story via Yahoo

This is our country, and in our country, we elect representatives to use our collective ability to make our country a great place to be.

Brave New World

Huxley vs. Orwell

Dear America,

No matter what the current state of the government is, it is still, in letter and by law, your government. In order to keep tabs on what is yours, you may want to know exactly what it is doing. I implore you to go directly to the primary source material yourself. Therefore, I have placed a direct link to the Thomas.gov entry for your Health Care Reform Bill and Thomas.gov on the top of the right navigation bar.

And pull up your pants.

Thanks,

Nostalgia for the Ventura Years?

He may have really low popularity, due to the furthering the anti-tax stance of this state, but still promising utopia. The same state where a couple of the primary industries pay incredibly low wages for all of the jobs they create and most others are either office-type or low skill service jobs.

Still, I will miss the Governator.

Never Learned to Read

H.R.3590: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

According to Jenna Wisen(ph), who owns an asphalt company with about 150 employees, interviewed at the Nevada Tea Party rally this weekend, "Nobody's read the whole [Health Care Reform] bill - could say that I can't wear brown on Tuesday. Nobody knows whats in there." It is interesting to note that Jenna also thinks that the bill will bankrupt her because now she will be "forced to" provide health insurance to her employees. She must be a GREAT boss.

I heard this on NPR this morning, and Ina Jaffe's comment after Jenna's tirade, "But most of the people at the rally were pretty sure that whats in there could destroy the health care system and put an end to freedom in America," is quite brilliant. I do, however, really wish that she had taken it further, asking Jenna if she had bothered to find and read the bill, since it is public record and Jenna has a vested interest in knowing what is in there. My guess is that they would have said "I don't have the time." Ina could have then asked, "how do you then find the time to go to Tea Party rallies?" A punch to the Ina's face might have followed.

Tea Party people are, quite clearly, know-nothings about how our government actually works. They can not and should not be taken any more seriously than the random homeless person shouting insults on the street. Not only are they too dumb to go and look for the bill before shouting nonsense about it, they don't have enough shame to realize how horribly dumb they look to the rest of us. These are people who have been told for years that they don't need to listen to experts because their own "common sense" was good enough. Now these people are coming unhinged, and it would be funny if I was the kind of person that could laugh at stupid people.

I don't think of myself as someone who is significantly more intelligent than the average person. I have had more opportunity to learn than most people, true, but most, if not all, of the information that I know is stuff that anyone can learn. Some of it takes a while to learn, but some of it just takes the ability to remember a website, like thomas.gov.

President Clinton helped make this a reality, so the know-nothings are probably proud to not know about this, but it allows anyone, anywhere, access to the full text of legislative branch documents from our government, including bills just signed into law. Unfortunately, our worthless mass media doesn't mention this, or give us the tools to find the bill - like the bill number or the official name. I only learned about thomas.gov because I used to work as a government document reference librarian. So it took a little sleuthing on my part this time, but now you have it with no effort at all: H.R.3590: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

You can also go to thomas.gov and search for bill number H.R.3590, in case that link doesn't work and if you're not a complete idiot.