"Ultimately, power in society comes from the people’s obedience." ... "The pyramid could not stand without thousands of individuals following orders."

From a document that goes well with the Egyptian revolution, Nonviolent Struggle, 50 Crucial Points:

Mainly, we see power as the state wants us to - as a monolith! So we believe power is fixed; and nothing can change except the people at the top. What the ruler decides today becomes reality for people tomorrow. You can change the person at the top - that is revolution - but the model stays the same: whoever gets to the top ends up controlling the power in the society.

But, the true nature of power is very different. In a society, power can change very swiftly. It can become fragile and can be redistributed, especially in nondemocratic regimes and other highly regimented organizations. Ultimately, power in society comes from the people’s obedience. And those people - each of whom is individually a small source of power - can change their minds, and refuse to follow commands.

[...]

Within every single society various pillars of support can be identified. They can include:

• the police, military, and other coercive structures
• the judiciary and electoral commission, and other elite professionals
• the civil service (bureaucracy) and other specialists and technical experts
• the educational system and other structures that produce and control knowledge
• organized religion and other traditionally respected institutions
• the media and those who manage the provision of information to the public
• the business community and others who manage the financial and economic sector

Each individual government is based on very few crucial pillars. Identifying crucial pillars and developing a multi-level strategy that weakens those pillars may make the difference between success and failure for your nonviolent struggle. Obedience or acquiescence of individuals and, more specifically, their willingness to follow orders, keeps each pillar functional, even where a government’s economic power is based mainly on a single industry or resource such as oil. Even in these cases, the pyramid could not stand without thousands of individuals following orders. Therefore, individuals and the community as a whole have the power to withdraw their support, and not act in the way that the opponent wants them to.

"Two kinds of British came to Kenya, the ones with guns to kill and steal the land, and the ones with a Bible to deceive."

I just got around to seeing Philippe Diaz's excellent 2009 documentary, End of Poverty?. It's a must see. If you have any shred of lingering good will towards the IMF or the World Bank, it will melt away while watching this film. The film shows that capitalism, with its emphasis on individualism and exploitation, destroys collective enterprise and plunges countless millions into poverty. Capitalism is a blight on the planet.

"Approximately 2/3 of the products sold by Whole Foods Markets ... are ... conventional (chemical-intensive and GMO-tainted) foods."

The USDA has approved GMO alfalfa.

Red Green & Blue:

What happened? Big organics companies like Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm tried playing footsie with Big Ag, working with Ag Secretary Vilsack on a compromise that would have let the GMOs in with vague assurances of safeguards. But Big Ag ramped up the pressure, and Vilsack caved.

Ronnie Cummins:

* According to informed sources, the CEOs of WFM and Stonyfield are personal friends of former Iowa governor, now USDA Secretary, Tom Vilsack, and in fact made financial contributions to Vilsack’s previous electoral campaigns.
* Vilsack was hailed as “Governor of the Year” in 2001 by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and traveled in a Monsanto corporate jet on the campaign trail.
* Perhaps even more fundamental to Organic Inc.’s abject surrender is the fact that the organic elite has become more and more isolated from the concerns and passions of organic consumers and locavores.
* The Organic Inc. CEOs are tired of activist pressure, boycotts, and petitions. Several of them have told me this to my face.
* They apparently believe that the battle against GMOs has been lost, and that it’s time to reach for the consolation prize.
* The consolation prize they seek is a so-called “coexistence” between the biotech Behemoth and the organic community that will lull the public to sleep and greenwash the unpleasant fact that Monsanto’s unlabeled and unregulated genetically engineered crops are now spreading their toxic genes on 1/3 of U.S. (and 1/10 of global) crop land.

Support the Organic Consumers Association. Because Whole Foods definitely is not looking out for your interests.

"Hold your ground, Egyptian!"

[source]

"I would not refer to him as a dictator."

So sayeth Jobe Biden of Mubarak. He calls Mubarak an ally, as if none of our allies are dictators.

Nope, can't call our allies by their rightful names.

Haaretz.com:

Egypt has been one of the top recipients of U.S. foreign aid ever since it became the first Arab country to sign a peace accord with Israel, in 1979. The aid was as high as $2 billion a year in the past, including $1.3 billion in funds for Egypt's military. But since the Bush administration, Washington has been reducing the nonmilitary part of the package. This year's aid, like last year's, is $1.55 billion, including $250 million in nonmilitary aid.

In 2008, the Bush administration dedicated around $45 million of that to programs for Governing Justly and Democratically. A portion directly funded non-governmental organizations - known as civil society groups - that carry out independent programs to promote human rights, hold the government accountable and promote reform.

For the 2009 budget, the Bush administration dedicated the same amount. But when it came to office, the Obama administration rearranged the funds, with only $20 million put to the democracy program, moving the difference to strictly economic projects, according to State Department reports to Congress. It has laid out slightly higher funds, $25 million, for the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years.

Jane Hamsher:

WikiLeaks reported today that the US has known of widespread abuse, torture, and even murder of political dissidents under the regime of Egypt’s dictator, Hosni Mubarak. In the streets of Cairo this week, American-made and supplied weapons are aimed at Egyptians, who are choking from tear gas also made in the USA.

That’s OUR tax money, used to torture and kill innocent people in Egypt.

Earlier today, the White House said it was going to “review” the $1.3 billion in military aid we send to Egypt every year. But the time for action is now while the people of Egypt fight for their freedom.

Sounds like we don't give a shit about democracy.

Fuck Religion, Fuck Politics, Fuck The Lot Of You!

Sure beats thinking or writing about the Pope's pronouncements concerning Faceboook or Obama's new Press Secretary.

Do you KBOO?

Have you discovered KBOO community radio in Oregon? I just did, thanks to a mention of it on Jodi Dean's I Cite. Check it out. Unplug from the mainstream! Or else!

Or else what?

Or else your brain will rot!

"We do big things"? What was that, an infomercial for America?

Who writes this crap?

He didn't mention poverty. He didn't mention inequality. That would be too depressing. No, he wrapped us in the warm glow of his idealistic, post-partisan bullshit.

He re-declared his love of business (20 times), leaving us with this nugget of presidential wisdom:

"We have to make America the best place on Earth to do business."

What!? You mean it isn't already? And isn't that the problem with America, not the solution? That we do corporate giveaways, corporate tax breaks, corporate loopholes, and deregulation at the expense of everything else?

Truly, Obama is a lost cause.

Obama:

We do big things.

From the earliest days of our founding, America has been the story of ordinary people who dare to dream. That's how we win the future.

We are a nation that says, "I might not have a lot of money, but I have this great idea for a new company. I might not come from a family of college graduates, but I will be the first to get my degree. I might not know those people in trouble, but I think I can help them, and I need to try. I'm not sure how we'll reach that better place beyond the horizon, but I know we'll get there. I know we will."

We do big things.

The idea of America endures. Our destiny remains our choice. And tonight, more than two centuries later, it is because of our people that our future is hopeful, our journey goes forward, and the state of our union is strong.

He do bullshit.

"Buttressing, protecting, and rationalizing the privileged position of the surplus getters."

Robert Paul Wolff is offering a series of lessons on Marx. This is from part 6:

In virtually every known society, the surplus is appropriated -- taken -- by some relatively small subset of the population, with the result that the members of that subset live better than the rest of the members of the society. We know these appropriators as kings, princes, oligarchs, pharaohs, priests, generals, landed aristocrats, tyrants -- and as entrepreneurs, merchants, advertising executives, lawyers, professors, and elected politicians. Almost always, the appropriators trick out their appropriations with justifications, rationales [or rationalizations] designed to persuade those from whom the surplus is taken of the rightness of the appropriation. The surplus getters suggest that they are bigger, stronger, more handsome, more charismatic, smarter, more productive, blessed by the Gods, sanctified by immemorial tradition, chosen by a vote of the people, riding the wave of history. And for the most part, those from whom the surplus has been taken -- the expropriated -- accept these rationales, sometimes grudgingly, quite often willingly or even enthusiastically.

[...]

A share of the social surplus in most societies is consumed buttressing, protecting, and rationalizing the privileged position of the surplus getters. Some of that share is used to support a substantial military and police force which is available to put down any dangerous protests from those who are being denied the fruits of their productive labors. Some supports priests and churches, in which the virtues of submission and the promise of plenty in the next life serve to dull the resentment of the expropriated producers. Some must be devoted to maintaining lawyers and judges who can be counted on to resolve all disputes in a manner favorable to the surplus getters' interests. And there is even a bit of this share left over to keep in comfortable unproductivity artists to provide amusements for the surplus getters and philosophers to explain why all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.

"Turn on liberal institutions, including the Democratic Party."

Chris Hedges:

Either we begin to militantly stand against the coal, oil and natural gas industry or we do not. Either we defy pre-emptive war and occupation or we do not. Either we demand that the criminal class on Wall Street be held accountable for the theft of billions of dollars from small shareholders whose savings for retirement or college were wiped out or we do not. Either we defend basic civil liberties, including habeas corpus and the prosecution of torturers or we do not. Either we turn on liberal institutions, including the Democratic Party, which collaborate with these corporations or we do not. Either we accept that the age of political compromise is dead, that the corporate systems of power are instruments of death that can be fought only by physical acts of resistance or we do not. If the liberal class remains gullible and weak, if it continues to speak to itself and others in meaningless platitudes, it will remain as responsible for our enslavement as those it pompously denounces.

"We don't retire at 50 with a pension. We eat what we kill..."

Go ahead and continue to take us down, but you're only going to hurt yourselves. What's going to happen when we can't find jobs on the Street anymore? Guess what: We're going to take yours. We get up at 5am & work till 10pm or later. We're used to not getting up to pee when we have a position. We don't take an hour or more for a lunch break. We don't demand a union. We don't retire at 50 with a pension. We eat what we kill, and when the only thing left to eat is on your dinner plates, we'll eat that.

For years teachers and other unionized labor have had us fooled. We were too busy working to notice. Do you really think that we are incapable of teaching 3rd graders and doing landscaping? We're going to take your cushy jobs with tenure and 4 months off a year and whine just like you that we are so-o-o-o underpaid for building the youth of America. [source]

Such wonderful people, those Wall Street types!

"If they didn't humble you with the Bible, they crumbled you with the gun."

“Everything that happened today was to keep Bradley Manning from having the company of his only remaining visitor."

Jane Hamsher:

I just wanted to say a quick thank-you to everyone today for your support when David House and I were being detained at Quantico.

I don’t think any of this had anything to do with me, or frankly the 42,000 petition signatures. The only thing I did was provide housing and transportation to David House, because he’s just out of college and Glenn Greenwald told him he could stay with me when he comes to visit Manning.

Everyone but David has stopped coming to see Bradley, and it takes a lot of courage to do what David is doing. It’s a very intimidating situation. So I try to support him by giving him a place to stay and driving him to the base when he comes to town. That’s really my only involvement.

There is no doubt in my mind that the primary objective of everything that happened today was to keep Bradley Manning from having the company of his only remaining visitor. The MPs told us they were ordered to do this, the brass showed up to make sure that they did, and they held us until 2:50 by repeatedly asking for information they already had whenever we asked to leave.

David House, Manning's only visitor, puts it well:

“The US government is like any animal: scare it and it will try to tear your face off.”

David is undeterred by the animal's fear:

I'm visiting Bradley next weekend to carry your messages of support & observe what an increasingly frenzied USGOV is attempting at Quantico.

"It is painful to behold a man employing his talents to corrupt himself."

[source]

"Not one glance of compassion, not one commiserating reflexion ... has he bestowed on those who lingered out the most wretched of lives, a life without hope in the most miserable of prisons."

[source]

"It is painful to behold a man employing his talents to corrupt himself. ... He is not affected by the reality of distress touching his heart, but by the showy resemblance of it striking his imagination."

[source]

"He pities the plumage, but forgets the dying bird. Accustomed to kiss the aristocratical hand that hath purloined him from himself, he degenerates into a composition of art, and the genuine soul of nature forsakes him. His hero or his heroine must be a tragedy-victim expiring in show..."

[source]

"...and not the real prisoner of misery, sliding into death in the silence of a dungeon."

[source]

- Thomas Paine, from Rights of Man

Vermont is the New California

California's glory days seem to be behind it. Vermont is picking up the slack.

Christopher Ketcham:

In Vermont, state senator Virginia Lyons earlier today presented an anti-corporate personhood resolution for passage in the Vermont legislature. The resolution, the first of its kind, proposes "an amendment to the United States Constitution ... which provides that corporations are not persons under the laws of the United States." Sources in the state house say it has a good chance of passing. This same body of lawmakers, after all, once voted to impeach George W. Bush, and is known for its anti-corporate legislation. Last year the Vermont senate became the first state legislature to weigh in on the future of a nuclear power plant, voting to shut down a poison-leeching plant run by Entergy Inc. Lyons’ Senate voted 26-4 to do it, demonstrating the level of political will of the state’s politicians to stand up to corporate power.

Steven Nelson:

Newly-elected Vermont Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin wants to put a state-based single payer system in place by 2014. In an interview with Democracy Now! Shumlin said that the system may, if enacted, use one insurance company to insure all citizens.

"Bureaucracy, with its inevitable consequences of toadyism, conformism and red tape, undermines all creative thought and action."

Alan Woods (via There are No Messiahs):

Bolshevism and Stalinism are mutually exclusive opposites. In the same way that Stalin had to murder all the Old Bolsheviks in order to consolidate the rule of a privileged bureaucracy, so in the realm of art, music and literature, the Stalinist counter-revolution left not one stone upon another of the artistic gains of the October revolution. The chief intellectual hallmark of the bureaucrat is conservative philistinism, national narrowness, total lack of imagination, an aversion to innovation and experiment, and a strong tendency towards conformity and control. After all, conservative routine is the guiding principle of every bureaucracy. Rules and regulations take the place of revolutionary initiative: the routinism of the apparatus replaces the freedom of the innovator. The Revolution succumbs to reaction, the philistine replaces the rebel. On such a barren soil, the promise of early Soviet art is slowly suffocated and throttled. The suicide of Mayakovsky in 1930 is a clear turning-point. His suicide note an epitaph on the tomb of revolutionary art.

Under Stalin art and literature were made to serve the interests of the ruling bureaucratic caste, just like every other aspect of life. Totalitarianism and bureaucracy represent the death of art. The Nazis used to forbid certain artists to work and ban their work as "degenerate art". An exhibition of such art was set up in Munich, presenting abstract and constructivist art as "total madness and the height of degeneracy". In Stalinist Russia, although the bureaucracy did not succeed in destroying the nationalized planned economy - the fundamental socio-economic conquest of October, the democratic regime of workers' power established by Lenin and Trotsky in 1917 was replaced by a hideous caricature, which blighted the development of Soviet art and literature. Bureaucracy, with its inevitable consequences of toadyism, conformism and red tape, undermines all creative thought and action. This is the very antithesis of the democratic traditions of October. It has nothing whatsoever in common with socialism.

"The chief intellectual hallmark of the bureaucrat is conservative philistinism, national narrowness, total lack of imagination, an aversion to innovation and experiment, and a strong tendency towards conformity and control. After all, conservative routine is the guiding principle of every bureaucracy."
- Alan Woods

"Only get people enough to agree to it, and the butchery of myriads of human beings is perfectly innocent."

[source]

From Adin Ballou's Non-Resistance Tract No. II:

One man must not kill. If he does it is murder. Two, ten, one hundred men, acting on their own responsibility, must not kill. If they do, it is still murder. But a state or nation may kill as many as they please, and it is no murder. It is just, necessary, commendable and right. Only get people enough to agree to it, and the butchery of myriads of human beings is perfectly innocent. ... Verily there is magic in numbers! ... Alexander the Great demanded of a pirate, by what right he infested the seas. By the same right, retorted the pirate, that Alexander ravages the world. How far was he from the truth?

Washington Post (March 21, 2003):

More than seven in 10 endorsed the decision of President Bush to wage war on Iraq. A similar proportion expressed confidence that the United States and its allies are right to use military force to topple Hussein and rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction. And two out of three said they believe Bush had worked hard enough to try to find a diplomatic solution before ordering the attack.

"Freedom begins between the ears."

[source]

"Freedom begins between the ears. The Good Life starts when servitude ends. In a nation of sheep, one brave man is a majority."
- Edward Abbey
(from The Fool's Progress)

This has been another Edward Abbey moment.

"Americans now trust Republicans in Congress more than Democrats when it comes to Social Security"

Dan Froomkin:

A post-election poll by Celinda Lake's Lake Research Partners found that, by a margin of 3 percentage points, Americans now trust Republicans in Congress more than Democrats when it comes to Social Security -- surely the first time since the program became a signature issue for the Democratic Party in the 1930s.

[...]

That the public would trust Republicans more on this issue was, until recently, inconceivable.

Thanks, Obama. This pretty much sums up the Obama experience:

He sang as if he knew me
In all my dark despair
And then he looked right through me
As if I wasn't there
- Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel

"If the life of Jesus is so unknown and we are basically filling in the blanks ... why even bother with Jesus?"

I've been reading a lot of Tolstoy recently, including the later stuff, which means I've been reading a lot about Christianity, and so I've been looking at blogs that discuss Tolstoy. One of them is called Letters to Tolstoy, a blog on pacifism, anarchy, and spirituality. He asks good questions. Tolstoy is a stripper. He strips away centuries of institutionalized religious crap to get back to the essentials. He understood that it takes literally a moment to understand the basic message that underlies an authentic spiritual life and the rest is filler, much of which is toxic. The bedrock message is being obscured by the messengers and by the worship of a singularly-glorified messenger.

Jacob at Letters to Tostoy:

...the teachings we have "from" Jesus tell us more about the religious views of the people propagating those teachings than about what Jesus actually taught. The story is of a man who teaches about the nature of God and how we may enter into His Kingdom and who is put to death after a mockery of a trial. Such a story leaves itself open to insert our religious understanding to make sense of it. Perhaps it even demands it.

The Tolstoy interpretation of the Jesus incident is that the Kingdom of God can be entered into each present moment by doing good for others. The good done for others can only be based on love and cannot include the use of force.

I like the Tolstoy interpretation. Tolstoy had no use for any claims of miracles, special divinity, after-life, or a "coming" Kingdom of God. He had use only for what he took were fairly literal moral and spiritual teachings that can help guide how man is to live life now.

[...]

If you were to list widely accepted core beliefs of Christians, you'd probably list items that Tolstoy thought were either non-essential or contradictory to the message of Jesus. Yet Tolstoy thought of himself as a Christian, perhaps even a "true" Christian versus the majority of hypocritical false Christians.

I have two questions then as I consider whether I should enter a church:

1. Is the Tolstoy interpretation compatible with Christianity? That is, can a personal of peculiar religious beliefs that do not include belief in the divinity of Jesus, or of Heaven or Hell, or in pretty much any of the Old Testament, rightly call himself a Christian?

2. If the life of Jesus is so unknown and we are basically filling in the blanks with our own widely varying religious beliefs, why even bother with Jesus? Why not have religious discussion in terms that do not rely upon trying to claim the "true" meaning of Jesus?

"Tolstoy had no use for any claims of miracles, special divinity, after-life, or a 'coming' Kingdom of God. He had use only for what he took were fairly literal moral and spiritual teachings that can help guide how man is to live life now."
- Letters to Tolstoy

Obama prepared to rip the very heart out of the Democratic Party

"What I’m told is that no definitive decisions have been made on the issue of Social Security – I expect that is probably true. ... What I’m hearing does not reassure me – that we have a president who is not prepared to defend the heart and soul of what the Democratic Party has been about since Franklin Delano Roosevelt."
- Bernie Sanders

"So screw politeness, and screw reasonableness."

Ian Welsh:

What I’ve come to realize lately is that I’m not on the same side as a lot of people. If you’re for the Afghan war, aka. for eternal war, I’m not on your side. If you believe in indefinite detention or the President’s right to assassinate whoever he wants, I’m not on your side. If you believe that Wikileaks is evil and that citizens should be kept in the dark as to what their governments are doing, then I’m not on your side.

[...]

So screw politeness, and screw reasonableness. Reasonableness in the current political environment means “willing to sell out the people whose interests she or he is supposed to care about.”

So count me out. I’m not interested in being reasonable, if reasonable means “a spineless sell out”. I’m not interested in being pragmatic, if pragmatic means “understands that nothing can actually be done to fix any problem”, and I’m not interested in being polite to people who make their living by destroying lives or apologizing for those who destroy lives.

"The idea that politics can be civil is a fantasy for elite technocrats and the well-heeled."

Doug Henwood:

The horrendous shootings in Tuscon have certainly inspired a lot of drivel from the commentariat. They were heartbreaking, but please let’s not draw stupid conclusions from them.

Perhaps most annoying has been the call for a return to civility. Well, no, I don’t feel like being civil. I like being rude. The problem with the rudeness in American political discourse is that it’s often so stupid, not that it’s so rude. The idea that politics can be civil is a fantasy for elite technocrats and the well-heeled. I’m reminded of something that Adolph Reed once said to me, characterizing a mutual acquaintance as the kind of person who thinks that if you could just get all the smart people together on Martha’s Vineyard, they could solve all our social problems. Obviously they couldn’t.

Margaret Atwood once wrote that politics is about “power: who’s got it, who wants it, how it operates; in a word, who’s allowed to do what to whom, who gets what from whom, who gets away with it and how.” There’s no way that could be rendered civil.

"No more talking to each other through politicians and pundits."

BroadSnark:

We cannot legislate our way out of our problems. We cannot criminalize all the loathsome people in the world.

The best we can do is to make speech by people like Sarah Palin irrelevant. And we do that by curing our discourse-by-proxy syndrome. No more talking to each other through politicians and pundits. We don’t need them.

"I'm not talking about emotional bosh when I talk about love."

Every day should be Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

From King's speech to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, August 16th, 1967:

And one day we must ask the question, "Why are there forty million poor people in America?" And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising questions about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy. And I'm simply saying that more and more, we've got to begin to ask questions about the whole society. We are called upon to help the discouraged beggars in life's marketplace. But one day we must come to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. It means that questions must be raised.

[...]

What I'm saying to you this morning is that communism forgets that life is individual. Capitalism forgets that life is social, and the kingdom of brotherhood is found neither in the thesis of communism nor the antithesis of capitalism but in a higher synthesis. It is found in a higher synthesis that combines the truths of both. Now, when I say question the whole society, it means ultimately coming to see that the problem of racism, the problem of exploitation, and the problem of war are all tied together. These are the triple evils that are interrelated.

(h/t Dialogic)

"The military ... will make you dependent on a system that doesn't care about you in the first place."

Pathological Capitalism

Eric Hobsbawm:

What happened from the 1970s on, first in the universities, in Chicago and elsewhere and, eventually, from 1980 with Thatcher and Reagan was, I suppose, a pathological deformation of the free-market principle behind capitalism: the pure market economy and rejection of state and public action that I don't think any economy in the 19th century actually practised, not even the USA. And it was in conflict with, among other things, the way in which capitalism had actually worked in its most successful era, between 1945 and the early 1970s.

"The great hymn of human labour over the earth is to them an idle song."

[source]

"But, Talk of criminal classes—can there be a doubt that the criminal classes, par excellence, in our modern society, are this horde of stock and share-mongers?"
- Edward Carpenter

Edward Carpenter, from Desirable Mansions: A Tract (1883):

AFTER all, why should we rail against the rich! I think if anything they should be pitied. In nine cases out of ten it is not a man's fault. He is born in the lap of luxury, he grows up surrounded by absurd and impossible ideas about life, the innumerable chains of habit and circumstance tighten upon him, and when the time comes that he would escape, he finds he cannot. He is condemned to flop up and down in his cage for the remainder of his days,—a spectacle of boredom, and a warning to gods and men.

[...]

When a rich man builds himself a prison, he puts up all these fences to shut the world out—to shut himself in. If he can he builds far back from the high road. In the front of his house he has a boundless polite lawn, with polite flower beds, afar from vulgar people and animals. Bows of polite servants attend upon him; and there within of inanity and politeness he dies. Of what human life really consists in he has little idea. He has not the faintest notion of what is necessary for human life or happiness.

[...]

Now is it not curious that those good people sitting round their dinner table in the desirable mansion, or listening to a little music in the drawing-room, should actually be so ignorant of the world, and what goes on in it, as to think, and honestly believe, that they are, par excellence, the educated people in it? Does it ever occur to them, I often think, to inquire who made all the elegant and costly objects with which they are surrounded? Does it ever occur to them, as they tacitly assume the inferiority of the working classes, to think of the table itself across which they speak—how beautifully fitted, veneered, polished; the cloth which lies upon it, and the weaving of it; the chairs and other furniture, so light and yet so strong, each requiring the skill of years to make; the silver, the glass, the steel, the tempering, hardening, grinding, fitting, riveting; the lace and damask curtains, the wonderful machinery, the care, the delicate touch, adroit manipulation?

[...]

The great hymn of human labour over the earth is to them an idle song. There, in the midst of all these beautiful products of toil and ingenuity, possessing but not enjoying, futile they sit, and fancy themselves educated—fit to rule. I have heard of a fly that sat stinging upon the hindquarters of a horse, and fancied that without it the cart would not go. Fancied so, I say, until the great beast whisked its tail, and after that it fancied nothing more.

[...]

But, Talk of criminal classes—can there be a doubt that the criminal classes, par excellence, in our modern society, are this horde of stock and share-mongers? If to be a criminal is to be an enemy of society, then they are such. For their mode of life is founded on the principle of taking without giving, of claiming without earning—as much as that of any common thief. It is in vain to try and make amends for this by charity organisations and unpaid magistracies. The cure must go deeper. It is no good trying to set straight the roof and chimneys, when the whole foundation is aslant.

"There, in the midst of all these beautiful products of toil and ingenuity, possessing but not enjoying, futile they sit, and fancy themselves educated—fit to rule. I have heard of a fly that sat stinging upon the hindquarters of a horse, and fancied that without it the cart would not go. Fancied so, I say, until the great beast whisked its tail, and after that it fancied nothing more."
- Edward Carpenter

"It’s not guns that kill people," said Mr. Krueger. "People kill people."

If that is the case, gun owners should not mind having their guns taken away. If guns do not function as deadly weapons, what's the point of owning one?

Out with the Old Testament, in with the New

Kevin Drum:

Temperamentally, liberals are New Testament critters and conservatives are Old Testament critters. Conservatives believe in retribution. They believe in suffering for your sins. If you went into debt, it's right that you should suffer for it. If the economy partied too hard, a hangover is the proper cure. We may or may not learn from our mistakes, but it's still right and proper to pay for them.

The irony, of course, is that most of the tea party types who believe this are basically suffering for the sins of others. They've been conned into thinking that somehow they're the ones responsible for our economic woes, and the folks doing the conning are delighted to get away with this. I probably don't need to tell you who those folks are.

"The very word secrecy is repugnant in a free and open society."

"We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. ... Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment."
- John F. Kennedy

"Subordinating the substance of society to the laws of the market can only lead to massive social destruction."

Kennedy's Run:

The kind of political-economic decline faced by the US and EU member states which have accepted austerity for the mass of the population is largely self inflicted. Allowing neoliberal ideology to constrain any meaningful economic growth (investing in infrastructure, the quality of life of the population, new forms of research etc) will see continued growth of oligopolistic tendencies in which inequalities rise to allow for the super-rich and the rest. This results in the mass of the population living in ever more precarious conditions (employment being just one such for of precarious livelihoods).

[...]

As the Institutionalist scholar Karl Polanyi once highlighted, social protectionism on the part of political agents (such as the state, left and right wing political movements) has long been a spontaneous reaction to the social dislocation imposed by an unrestrained free-market. Laissez-faire, a planned means of seperating the political and economic realms may bring unheard of material wealth (for small groups of people in the current period), but subordinating the substance of society to the laws of the market can only lead to massive social destruction. Regarding land, money and labour as commodities in themselves to be regulated by a ‘free-market’ is hugely damaging to each as they cannot be recreated at will and all three are greatly debased in an unregulated market society.

[...]

The task facing the radical left and genuine progressives is a monumental one, but one which we must face head on if we are to avoid the wholesale decay and destruction of our families, homes, towns, cities, schools, unions by reactionary social forces (elite or otherwise) and an unrestrained market.

"The task facing the radical left and genuine progressives is a monumental one, but one which we must face head on..."

The New Middle Class

[original picture source]

The massive inequality in this country has changed perceptions of what it means to be middle class.

With the rise of the super rich, who keep extending the income curve higher and higher, being in the middle comes to mean a household income of more than 90,000 dollars. That's more income than 80 percent of households earn.

We've become a country of lower-class households.

Obama's "puddles in heaven" speech

Am I the only one who finds the President's sentimentality sickening? Am I supposed to forget that he is "pleased" with the war in Afghanistan, or forget the innocent civilians he has killed with his drone warfare?

Mehdi Hasan:

"Two words for you: predator drones. You will never see it coming." The crowd laughed, Obama smiled, the dinner continued. Few questioned the wisdom of making such a tasteless joke; of the US commander-in-chief showing such casual disregard for the countless lives lost abroad through US drone attacks.

Obama said in his speech: “None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped those shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man’s mind.”

If he wants to see "the inner recesses of a violent man’s mind," he should take a look at himself.

Barry Crimmins wasn't taken in either.

Margaret Kimberley:

The crocodile tears and maudlin statements shouldn’t fool anyone. There is great danger in this nation, but it doesn’t emanate from Arizona. It begins and ends in Washington DC with the most powerful people in the country.

"Today the demagogy of Obama stands exposed. Tomorrow it will be the turn of the Republicans."

Alan Woods:

Barack Obama has been quickly exposed as an empty phrasemonger. He is impotent to solve any of the serious problems of the American people. The Republicans, sensing his impotence, are baying for blood. The most crazed and reactionary sections are mobilized in the so-called Tea Party movement – a heterogeneous movement that exploits a whole series of grievances of different layers of US society, and an amorphous desire for “change” – the same amorphous desire that was previously expressed in the movement for Obama.

The workers of the USA had to pass through the painful school of Obama in order to learn a bitter lesson. Neither Democrats nor Republicans can offer anything to the people of the USA under present circumstances. Today the demagogy of Obama stands exposed. Tomorrow it will be the turn of the Republicans.

"We, the Simplified Language Committee of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society, recommend..."

Jack London (via Left List):

Simplified Language of Socialism
Appeal to Reason, 30 March 1907.

TO BE ABOLISHED.

We, the Simplified Language Committee of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society, recommend, after careful deliberation, that the following three hundred words, with their roots, derivatives and related forms, be as rapidly as possible retired to academic obscurity, or entirely abolished. In order that this may be accomplished, we recommend that all habits, customs and practices that have caused their introduction in the language be, by every possible means, done away with, and that new laws, standards and methods be sought, that shall, by their logical operations, render the use of these words obsolete:

Adulteration, adultery, agitator, alien, alms, alimony, anarchy, animalism, aristocracy, army, arsenal, arson, artillery, assassin, avarice.

Bagnio, bankrupt, barbarian, bargain, bawdy, beastly, beggar, bestial, bet, bibulous, bigamy, blacklist, blackmail, bloodshed, bondage, boor, brandy, bribe, broker, brothel, brutality, burglar.

Cant, capitalist, charity (alms), cheat, contraband, convict (n), counterfeit, covet, crime, criminal, curse.

Damn, debauchery, debt, decadence, degeneracy, demagogue, detective, depravity, despair, despotism, destitution, devil, dictator, divorce, domestic (n), drudge, drunkard, dude, dupe, duplicity.

Effeminate, embezzler, employer, employee, ennui, envy, extravagance.

Faction, fake, fanatic, fiend, firm (n), foreigner, forger, fornication, fraud.

Garrison, gossip, graft (unlawful profit).

Haggle, handcuff, heathen, hell, heresy, homicide, hypocrisy.

Idiocy, idler, illicit, imbecile, immodesty, immorality, incest, indigence, indolence, inebriate, inhuman, iniquity, insanity, insolvency, insurance, insurrection, insurgent, intemperance, interest (usury), internecine, intrigue.

Jail.

King, knave.

Lackey, landlord, larceny, lawyer, laziness, lechery, lewd, liaison, liar, libel, libertine, libidinous, licentious, lickspittle, livery, loafer, luck, lunacy, lust, lynch.

Machination, malcontent, malefactor, malevolence, malice, maniac, massacre, matricide, mayhem, meanness, melancholy, meretricious, military, minion, misanthrope, miscreant, miser, mob, monarch, monomania, monotony, morbid, mortgage, mutiny, murder.

Nefarious, nepotism, niggard.

Obscenity, oligarchy, oppression, ostentation, outcast, outlaw, outrage, overload.

Pander, paramour, parricide, partisan, paternalism, pauper, pawnshop, pawnbroker, peculate, peddler, penal, penitentiary, penury, perjury, perquisite, persecution, philanthropist, pimp, plutocrat, poacher, poll tax, polygamy, poorhouse, pornography, poverty, prejudice, prison, procurer, profanity, proletariat, prolicide, prostitute, prude.

Quack (a pretender in medicine).

Rake (libertine), rant, rape (criminal assault), rebel, regiment, revenge, renegade, ringleader, riot, robber, roue, ruffian, rum.

Sabre, saloon (a poison shop), sanguinary, satan, savage (n), scandal, scoundrel, sedition, seduce, selfish, sensual, serf, servant, servile, shiftless, shirk, shoddy, shoplifter, sin, sinecure, slander, slave, slum, smuggler, snob, soldier, spurious, squalor, starvation, strike (a labor mutiny), strumpet, suicide, superstition, sycophant, syphilis.

Tenant, tenement, termagent, terrorist, thief, timeserver, tinsel, tip (a bribe), tipsy, toady, toper, tout, traitor, tramp (an outcast), traveler (“drummer”), treachery, treadmill, treason, trespass, trooper, turnkey, turpitude, tyrant.

Unlawful, unmanly, usury, uxoricide.

Vagabond, vagrancy, valet, vandal, venal, vengeance, villain .

Wager, wages, waif, war, whiskey, whore, working-class.

TO BE ENCOURAGED.

In order that the object of the committee may be better understood, we append an additional list of three hundred words, to represent the type of language that we desire to have preserved, and brought into more general usage, reflecting the growth of those laws, standards and methods of social activity which are indifferently known as democratic, republican or Socialist, replacing the anarchistic language and ideals that now prevail:

Ability, abundance, accomplish, accord, accrue, accumulate, achieve, acquire, activity, admiration, adorn, advance, affection, affluence, alacrity, alleviate, ambition, amity, ample, animation, anthropology, anticipation, appreciation, approbation, architecture, ardor, art, aspiration, assurance, astronomy, attainment.

Balance, bath, beauty, belief, beneficence, benevolence, best, better, brave, breeding, brisk, business, busy.

Candid, certain, capable, capital (productive property), cash, celebrity, champion, change, charity (affection, toleration), chastity, cheer, chemistry, chief, chivalry, choice, clever, comfort, commend, comparison, competition, conservatism, constancy, constructive, courtesy, creative, culture.

Decent, decorum, deference, democracy, devotion, dexterity, dignity, diligence, diversity, domestic (adj.), duty.

Earn, earnest, education, eminence, employment, emulation, encourage, endeavor, energy, engineering, enlightenment, equity, erudition, esteem, excellence, exchange, exertion, expert.

Faith, fame, family, federal, fidelity, foreman, freedom, free-will, friendship, fund.

Gain, genius, gentleman, genuine, geography, geology, geometry, graft (horticultural or surgical process), grandeur.

Harmony, health, heroism, home, homely (typical of home), honesty, honor.

Idealism, improvement, incentive, independence, individuality, industry, innovation, integrity, intellect, intelligent, intercourse, interest, invention, income.

Kindness, knowledge.

Labor, lady, law, leisure, liberty, library, lineage, literature, love, loyalty.

Machinery, manliness, mansion, marriage, mathematics, matrimony, melioration, melody, merchandise, merit, merry, method, ministry, modesty, money, monogamy, morality, music, mutual.

Navigation, navy, neighbor.

Order, organization, originality.

Palace, patriotism, pay, peace, philanthropy, philosophy, poetry, possession, praise, pride, privacy, probity, profit, progress, property, prosperity, protection, provident, pulchritude, purity.

Reason, rectitude, reliance, remuneration, repose, republic, residence, respect, responsibility, riches, right, robust, romance.

Sagacity, sale, saloon (a hall of art or entertainment), sanitation, sanity, sanguine, scholarship, science, sculpture, sedulous, seemly, self-help, self-control, self-interest, self-reliance, sensuous, sentiment, service, sincere, skill, sober, society, sociable, solidarity, song, soul, stately, statesman, statuary, statute, strength, strenuous, success, superb, superintend, superior, supreme, symmetry, sympathy, synarchy, system.

Tact, talent, teach, technology, techtonics, temperate, tenacity, tenderness, thoroughbred, thought, thrift, toll, tourist, trade, traffic, travel, treasure, triumph, truth.

Unity, university, upright, uplift.

Valiant, value, variety, veneration, venture, veriloquent, verve, veteran, vie, vigilance, vigor, virile, virtue, vim, vocation.

Wealth, wedlock, welfare, wholesome, wife, wit, womanly, work, worthy.

Sarah Palin is no Robert F. Kennedy

Robert F. Kennedy:

When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or the policies he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but as enemies, to be met not with cooperation but with conquest; to be subjugated and mastered.

We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community; men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in common effort. We learn to share only a common fear, only a common desire to retreat from each other, only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force. For all this, there are no final answers.

(H/t Political Carnival)

"The middle class is dying, and the already poor are being driven into destitution."

Stoneleigh:

Approximately one in seven Americans is on food stamps already. The number one cause of personal bankruptcy in the US, even among people who have health insurance, is healthcare emergencies, as the co-pays are so high. More and more people are falling off the edge all the time. Their plight is ignored higher up the financial food chain, but it cannot be ignored forever. The middle class is dying, and the already poor are being driven into destitution. Eventually the ruined will reach a critical mass, and people who have nothing left to lose, lose it. This is a recipe for a degree of social unrest that will threaten the fabric of society.

"Everything which is true in Christianity may also be found in Brahmanism and Buddhism."

"Everything which is true in Christianity may also be found in Brahmanism and Buddhism. ... Whoever seriously thinks that superhuman beings have ever given our race information as to the aim of its existence and that of the world, is still in his childhood.... [I]nstead of trusting what their own minds tell them, men have as a rule a weakness for trusting others who pretend to supernatural sources of knowledge. "
- Arthur Schopenhauer, Religion

"All these chairmen and directors and governors and politicians, they’re all confidence tricksters."

Alasdair Gray (The Fall of Kelvin Walker):

“Don’t you understand, Kelvin? Haven’t you got the point? All these chairmen and directors and governors and politicians, they’re all confidence tricksters. Nobody but a fool thinks they they’re more virtuous than the rest of us, and you’ve pointed out yourself that they don’t even know more. Then why do they get up there? Because most people are so afraid of running their own lives that they feel frightened when there’s no-one to bully them. So we get a gang of bullies and tricksters ordering us about and getting very well paid for it.

"What we are witnessing in the US today is a society stuck in reverse."

John Wright (Socialist Unity):

In a nation forged by violence and shaped by the apotheosis of individual rather than collective rights, the attempted assassination of a US Congresswoman bespeaks a nation in which a culture of reaction has emerged victorious over the politics of reason and progress. More significantly, when we consider the great triumphs of American liberalism in the 20th century, the New Deal and the civil rights movement, what we are witnessing in the US today is a society stuck in reverse.

The ramifications of it remaining in reverse presage a dangerous slide towards the abyss not only for the American people but the world at large.

"I'm here today to show my photographs of the Lakota..."

Don't miss this incredibly powerful TED talk by Aaron Huey (from September 2010).

"Everything can be measured before Wounded Knee, and after."
- Aaron Huey

"The last chapter in any successful genocide is the one in which the oppressor can remove their hands and say, 'my God, what are these people doing to themselves. They're killing each other. They're killing themselves.' ... This is how we came to own these United States."
- Aaron Huey

Via the TED site.

"Television pundits and media personalities can invoke the language of hate, the language of murder ... because, hey, they're just words."

Everyone is a Sith:

We have forgotten that we are people, we have forgotten that we are human, and instead we've conceived of ourselves as the passive disembodied observers to a highly-acclaimed cultural B-movie within which pundits and talking heads vie for dominance in a race to King of the Rhetorical Mountain. So when Glenn Beck jokes about poisoning Nancy Palosi, we pay it virtually no mind. It is acceptable, it is commonplace, it is uneventful. It has been that way for years. Television pundits and media personalities can invoke the language of hate, the language of murder, the language of death without fear of retribution because, hey, they're just words; we have freedom of speech. It's simple, harmless, entertainment.

Except that a nine-year-old girl is now fucking dead. So, we probably ought to fix the god damned problem.

"We're pirates of compassion who are hunting down and destroying pirates of profit."

"Ultimately, humanity is one and this small planet is our only home, If we are to protect this home of ours, each of us needs to experience a vivid sense of universal altruism. It is only this feeling that can remove the self-centered motives that cause people to deceive and misuse one another. [...] I believe that at every level of society - familial, tribal, national and international - the key to a happier and more successful world is the growth of compassion. We do not need to become religious, nor do we need to believe in an ideology. All that is necessary is for each of us to develop our good human qualities."
- the Dalai Lama

"By clinging to the Democrats, the labor officials are widening the disconnect between themselves and their membership."

Ann Robertson and Bill Leumer:

...organized labor officials, who are in a position to mobilize massive numbers of working people to put up a fight, are giving the impression that they are suffering from a state of complete paralysis. Of course, every two years they come to life and furiously expend huge amounts of money and energy to elect Democrats to office, only to see the Democrats fail to throw anything their way except a few crumbs. And in another two years, all the broken promises are pushed under the rug, and this self-defeating ritual repeats itself.

But self-defeating rituals have their limits. By clinging to the Democrats, the labor officials are widening the disconnect between themselves and their membership. Ordinary working people are angry. They watch the bankers bestow even more generous bonuses on themselves while the rest of us are still losing our jobs, or suffering pay cuts, with the risk of home foreclosures on the horizon. Working people have watched the inequalities in wealth soar, whether Democrats or Republicans were at the helm. And a growing number of working people are becoming permanently disaffected with the Democrats. They want something to be done, and they have no faith in the politicians, be they Democrats or Republicans.

The only alternative available to working people that offers real prospects for success are mass mobilizations in the streets and strikes – the kind of militant struggles that scored so many gains in the 1930s. Either the labor officials will have to take the initiative and organize huge demonstrations and defy the Democratic Party, which scorns mass movements led by ordinary working people since it can't control them; or eventually rank and file anger will explode and the officials will be pushed to the sidelines as people take matters into their own hands. It is time the labor movement united and put up a fight.

"On August 19, 2005 Roy Koch, along with 4,400 airline mechanics, custodians, and cleaners, went on strike against Northwest Airlines"

Watch the 2009 documentary film Red Tail (at Culture Unplugged).

Synopsis:

Northwest, otherwise known as “The Red Tail” by its employees, wanted to lay off 53% of their union and outsource their jobs. What followed was a 444-day strike that would end with 4,000 union members out of work, including Roy.

Instead of being left in the wake of this battle, Roy and his daughter Melissa (co-director of The Red Tail with Dawn Mikkelson) set on a journey to meet the worker to whom Roy’s job was outsourced in China. The journey provides a renewed sense of purpose for Roy, and while Melissa wants to get answers to his plight, her determination as a filmmaker is always tempered by her love as a daughter. The film interweaves Roy and Melissa’s search for connection in China with the premeditated downfall of Northwest Airlines.

"You have to fight back once in a while, even if you don't win. You've still got to kick 'em in the shins as hard as you can. Take a shot. So, that's what we did."
- Ted Ludwig

Mentioned in the film, Northwest Airlines' 101 Ways to Save Money (after you've been screwed by your employer):

1. Set your thermostat to 64 and turn it down to 60 at night.

2. Use the phone book instead of directory assistance.

3. Use coupons at the grocery store.

4. Carpool.

5. Ask for generic prescriptions instead of brand name.

6. Do your own nails.

7. Rent out a room or garage.

8. Replace 100 watt bulbs with 60 watt.

9. Make long distance calls at night and on weekends, instead of mid-day, mid-week.

10. Throw pocket change in a jar and take it to the bank when it's full.

11. Always grocery shop with a list.

12. Buy spare parts for your car at a junkyard.

13. Go to museums on free days.

14. Quit smoking.

15. Get hand-me-down clothes and toys for your kids from family and friends.

16. Meet friends for coffee instead of dinner.

17. Request to get interest on a security deposit for your apartment.

18. Take a shorter shower.

19. Write letters instead of calling.

20. Brown bag your lunch.

21. Make your own babyfood.

22. Use public transportation.

23. Drop duplicate medical insurance.

24. Buy old furniture at yard sales and refinish it yourself.

25. Apply for scholarships and financial aid.

26. Exercise for free-walk, jog, bike, or get exercise videos from the library.

27. Form a baby-sitting cooperative with friends and neighbors.

28. Buy your clothes off season.

29. Go to a matinee instead of an evening show.

30. Share housing with a friend or family member.

31. Hang clothes out to dry.

32. Do not use your calling card.

33. Volunteer two hours a month for reduced cost food through the Share Program.

34. Change the oil in your car yourself regularly.

35. Get pre-approval from your medical insurance company before undergoing any procedures or tests.

36. But 'no frills' vitamins.

37. Take a date for a walk along the beach or in the woods.

38. Make cards and gifts for friends.

39. Shop in thrift stores.

40. Have your water company do an audit so you are not charged sewage fees for water used in your garden.

41. Refinance your mortgage.

42. Grocery shop on double coupon days.

43. Trade down your car for a less expensive, lower maintenance one.

44. Convert your cash value life insurance to term.

45. Shop around for eyeglasses.

46. Don’t be shy about pulling something you like out of the trash.

47. Recycle.

48. Move to a less expensive place to live.

49. Use low flush toilets or water saving devices in the tank.

50. Drop unneeded telephone services like call forwarding or caller ID.

51. Buy fruits and vegetables in season.

52. Avoid using your ATM card at machines that charge a fee.

53. Bicycle to work.

54. Shop around for auto insurance discounts for multiple drivers, seniors, good driving records, etc.

55. Ask your doctor for samples of prescriptions.

56. Borrow a dress for a big night out. or go to a consignment shop.

57. When you buy a home negotiate the sales price and closing costs.

58. Turn the hot water heater down and wrap it with insulation.

59. Never grocery shop hungry.

60. If you qualify, file for Earned Income Credit.

61. Shop around for prescriptions including mail order companies (Medi-Mail 800-331-1458, Action Mail Order Drugs 800-452-1976, and AARP 800-456-2277).

62. If you pay for childcare, make use of the dependent care tax credit or your employer's dependent care flexible spending account.

63. Buy, sell, and trade clothes at consignment shops.

64. Shop around for the lowest banking fees.

65. Caulk windows and doors.

66. Iron your own shirts.

67. Plan your weekly food menu before shopping.

68. Buy a good used car instead of a new model car.

69. Purchase all of your insurance from the same company to get a discount.

70. Cut your cable television down to basic.

71. Go to an optometrist for routine vision tests or to change an eyeglass prescription.

72. Buy pre-owned toys and children's books at garage sales.

73. Have potluck dinners with friends and family instead of going out.

74. Use the library for books, video tapes, and music.

75. Inspect clothing carefully before purchasing it.

76. Don't use your dishwasher dry cycle; open the door and let them air dry all night.

77. At the grocery store, comparison shop by looking at the unit price.

78. Make your own coffee.

79. Use old newspapers for cat litter.

80. Shop at discount clothing stores.

81. Skip annual full mouth x-rays unless there is a problem; the ADA recommends x-rays every 3 years.

82. Water your garden at night or early in the morning.

83. Shop around for long distance rates.

84. Hand wash instead of dry cleaning.

85. Grow your own vegetables and herbs.

86. Shop around for auto financing.

87. Donate time instead of money to religious organizations and charities.

88. If you are leaving a room for more than five minutes, turn off the light.

89. Shop at auctions or pawn shops for jewelry and antiques.

90. Keep your car properly tuned.

91. Request lower interest rates from your creditors.

92. Trade in old books, records, and CDs at book and record exchanges.

93. Pay bills the day they arrive; many credit card companies charge interest based on your average daily balance.

94. Buy software at computer fares.

95. Search the internet for freebies.

96. Compost to make your own fertilizer.

97.If your car has very little value, you probably only need liability insurance.

98. Cut the kids hair yourself.

99. Increase your insurance deductible.

100. Buy in bulk food warehouses.

101. If your income is low, contact utility companies about reduced rates.

Japanese press U.S. to revoke the tax-exempt status of Sea Shepherd

Following up on my Sea Shepherd post from earlier today, I see that WikiLeaks has released a cable showing Japanese pressure on the U.S. to revoke the tax-exempt status of Sea Shepherd.

Machida said there are two factors outside the current Future of the IWC negotiations that influence Japan's negotiating position. First, a negative outcome in the vote at next year's IWC intersessional meeting on Greenland's proposal to catch ten humpback whales could derail the work of the Support Group. Greenland's proposal has the backing of the IWC's Scientific Committee and another rejection at the IWC plenary meeting could make the overall compromise being discussed impossible. Second, the violent protests by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) could limit the GOJ's flexibility in the negotiations. He said the Netherlands should have primary responsibly for taking action against the SSCS, but he appreciates the USG initiative to address the group's tax exempt status. He said action on the SSCS would be a major element for Japan in the success of the overall negotiations. Ms. Medina replied that she hopes to work out differences with the EU on Greenland's proposal on humpback whales prior to the March 2010 IWC intersessional meeting and include the issue in the overall agreement. Regarding the SSCS, she said she believes the USG can demonstrate the group does not deserve tax exempt status based on their aggressive and harmful actions.

Thank you, WikiLeaks! More from AlterNet.

"I like my life the way it is, without Facebook."

Dwight Harriman:

Everybody on the planet is on Facebook - teenagers, adults, toddlers, the elderly in nursing homes.
But not me.
Nor, for the foreseeable future, will I be.
Facebook users tell me I should join because it's a great way for me to connect with people from my past.
Well, guess what - I don't want to connect with people from my past. If I had wanted to, I would have done it long ago. I don't want messages from someone who "kinda" knew me in ninth grade. I don't want to catch up with them. I don't want to share.
I don't want to "friend" or be "friended." I don't want to have to make decisions about whom I should reject or accept.
I don't want people writing on my "wall," and I don't want to write on other people's "walls." I don't want to know about every single thought that goes through your mind, and I don't want to know everything you did today. I don't want to spend all my time reading and answering everybody's messages.
I don't want to post pictures and information about myself for the whole world to see. What is it the kids say? TMI: Too Much Information. I like my privacy, a rare commodity in this Internet age. And I don't really believe Facebook security settings will give you as much privacy as you want. If you are connected to the Internet, baby, there is no such thing as privacy. Just ask all those employers who reject job applicants because of what they managed to find on their Facebook sites.
I don't want to read Facebook messages punctuated with emoticons and "LOL." I don't want pictures of myself "tagged" and I don't want to "tag" other people's pictures.
I don't want to get "poked," and I don't want to "poke" other people.
My two teenage daughters, who of course are Facebook users, are on a mission to turn me into one. I am resisting steadfastly. They have even launched a Facebook group page called "We Want Dwight Harriman on Facebook." They say 38 people have joined so far.
Good luck.
Because I know what would happen the minute I signed up.
One of those long-lost sort-of friends from ninth grade would find me, and then they would friend me so we could catch up and share.
And I don't want to share. I like my life the way it is, without Facebook.

"I don't want people writing on my 'wall,' and I don't want to write on other people's 'walls.' I don't want to know about every single thought that goes through your mind, and I don't want to know everything you did today."
- Dwight Harriman

"Our every social institution, including the church, is corrupted by the theocracy of capitalism."

Excellent essay by Charles Sullivan at Counter Currents:

Through the interlocking policies of capitalism, manifest destiny, and American exceptionalism, we have exported our murderous paradigms to every nation on earth. Writing for Al-Jazeerah, Paul J. Balles, a professor at American University, notes that the U.S. has established more than 1,000 permanent military bases outside of its national borders. These bases are found in more than 135 nations, ostensibly for the purpose of bringing democracy to the world.

But democracy is not democracy in the sense that most people think. Among capitalists, “democracy” is a code word for free market fundamentalism—deregulated corporate power. This, not Christianity or Islam, is America’s real religion.

Our every social institution, including the church, is corrupted by the theocracy of capitalism. Particularly during times of conflict, the church is needed as a moral counterweight to war and aggression, to greed and unregulated corporate power. But the church is impotent and irrelevant as a moral force. Not only does it fail to challenge the unethical basis of the dominant social and economic paradigm; it promotes them by adopting the corporate structure and by relegating women, homosexuals, and other minorities, to second and third class citizenship.

Beyond a few notable exceptions, Christianity has failed to take a principled stance against capitalism and its free market idolatry. It has failed to intervene on behalf of the exploited in the war waged by the rich against the working class and the poor. Moreover, it attempts to legitimize the domination of the working class by providing the façade of moral authority to the oppressor.

War, as a prominent feature of capitalism, should be denounced from every pulpit in the land. But it is aggrandized and glorified; it is eulogized as righteous and necessary: the triumph of good over evil. War sacrifices the lives of working class people for the benefit of a ruling plutocracy. Workers are admonished to bear their burden in this life without complaint: heavenly reward awaits them in the next. The ruling class is having its reward now.

Even the teachings of Christ, which advocated giving alms to the poor and living simply, were appropriated by the theocracy of free market fundamentalism. To identify Christ with America’s agenda of war and occupation, to equate him with the genocide of indigenous populations, to associate him with senseless consumerism and repression of the working class, is to turn him into his polar opposite, the anti-Christ. This is the implicit meaning behind the nationalistic jingles of “God Bless America” or “God Bless our Troops.”

"War, as a prominent feature of capitalism, should be denounced from every pulpit in the land. But it is aggrandized and glorified; it is eulogized as righteous and necessary."
- Charles Sullivan

"The passion of individuals ... the only thing that has ever changed anything in the entire history of social movements."

I've been following the exploits of Sea Shepherd in its current campaign against Japanese whaling. Here's an excellent talk that Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd's Captain, gave in 2009 at the Animal Rights Conference. You can catch the past three seasons of Whale Wars on Netflix.

"We've been raised in a culture which teaches us to live in a world of fantasy. We have alienated ourselves from the entire realm of the natural world. We're apart from it. It's an abstraction. Just look at what our values are, what we fight for. ... We justify violence when it's in our interest to do so and then we condemn it when it's not in our interest."
- Paul Watson

"You cannot be an environmentalist without being a vegetarian or a vegan. You cannot be."
-Paul Watson

"The crime of compassion ... undermines everything they stand for."
- Paul Watson

"Why don't you guys use torpedoes!"

Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic congresswoman from Arizona...

... shot today at a public event outside a grocery store.

A spokesman for the Pima County sheriff says that at least 12 people were shot, with at least 6 fatalities. The Tucson Citizen reports that Rep. Giffords was "shot point blank in the head."

Rep. Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, was first elected to the House in 2006. She represents the state's 8th Congressional District.

"He was the most down on Solomon of any hipster I ever see."

"I never see such a hipster. If he got a notion in his head once, there warn't no getting it out again. He was the most down on Solomon of any hipster I ever see."
- From Huckleberry Finn, the Hipster Edition

"Americans have made a religious fetish of something called 'self-reliance.'"

Sam Harris:

Americans have made a religious fetish of something called "self-reliance." Most seem to think that while a person may not be responsible for the opportunities he gets in life, each is entirely responsible for what he makes of these opportunities. This is, without question, a false view of the human condition. Consider the biography of any "self-made" American, from Benjamin Franklin on down, and you will find that his success was entirely dependent on background conditions that he did not make, and of which he was a mere beneficiary. There is not a person on earth who chose his genome, or the country of his birth, or the political and economic conditions that prevailed at moments crucial to his progress. Consequently, no one is responsible for his intelligence, range of talents, or ability to do productive work. If you have struggled to make the most of what Nature gave you, you must still admit that Nature also gave you the ability and inclination to struggle. How much credit do I deserve for not having Down syndrome or any other disorder that would make my current work impossible? None whatsoever. And yet devotees of self-reliance rail against those who would receive entitlements of various sorts -- health care, education, etc. -- while feeling unselfconsciously entitled to their relative good fortune. Yes, we must encourage people to work to the best of their abilities and discourage free riders wherever we can -- but it seems only decent at this moment to admit how much luck is required to succeed at anything in this life. Those who have been especially lucky -- the smart, well-connected, and rich -- should count their blessings, and then share some of these blessings with the rest of society.

The wealthiest Americans often live as though they and their children had nothing to gain from investments in education, infrastructure, clean-energy, and scientific research. For instance, the billionaire Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, recently helped kill a proposition that would have created an income tax for the richest 1 percent in Washington (one of seven states that has no personal income tax). All of these funds would have gone to improve his state's failing schools. What kind of society does Ballmer want to live in -- one that is teeming with poor, uneducated people? Who does he expect to buy his products? Where will he find his next batch of software engineers?

"People were happy and thinking about something other than profit ... people still believed that truth mattered and were even in pursuit of it."

A story for our times by Clancy Martin:

During my bleakest days in business, when I felt like taking a Zen monk's vow of silence so that not a single lie would escape my lips, I often took a long lunch and drove to a campus—Southern Methodist University, Texas Christian University, the University of Texas at Arlington—to see the college kids outside reading books or holding hands or hurrying to class, and to reassure myself that there was a place where life made sense, where people were happy and thinking about something other than profit, where people still believed that truth mattered and were even in pursuit of it. (OK, perhaps I was a bit naïve about academic life.)

I was in the luxury-jewelry business for nearly seven years, and though I don't believe in the existence of a soul, exactly, I came to understand what people mean when they say you are losing your soul. The lies I told in my business life migrated. Soon I was lying to my wife. The habit of telling people what they wanted to hear became the easiest way to navigate my way through any day. They don't call it "the cold, hard truth" without reason: Flattering falsehoods are like a big, expensive comforter—as long as the comforter is never pulled off the bed.

It seemed that I could do what I wanted without ever suffering the consequences of my actions, as long as I created the appearance that people wanted to see. It took a lot of intellectual effort. I grew skinnier. I needed more and more cocaine to keep all my lies straight. And then, one morning, I realized that I had been standing in "the executive bathroom" (reserved for my partner and myself) at the marble sink before a large, gilt Venetian mirror every morning for days, with my Glock in my mouth (in the jewelry business, everyone has a handgun). I still remember the oily taste of that barrel. Before I confronted the fact that I was trying to kill myself, I had probably put that gun in my mouth, oh, I don't know—20, 30 times. I said, "Enough."

When does our society say enough? Enough lying, enough greed, enough soulless profiteering, enough inequality, enough intolerance, enough racism, enough killing, enough, enough, enough!