Sunday, September 28, 2014

We Vote For Inequality

Photo from The Atlantic
You know, I read that Eric Holder was resigning and the first thing I thought of was, I wonder if he's going to work for a bank? The lobby he previously worked for represented Bank of America, what a surprise.
It doesn't take a genius to figure it out when you look at his record of failure regarding prosecuting the banks for the fallout resulting in bailouts and the ensuing recession that laid the economy to waste with millions losing their jobs.
Then I started thinking about Flood Wall Street, one of the things that got me was, 300,000 people could march for climate change, I didn't read anything about pepper spray or people getting arrested (correct me if I'm wrong) However, if you go marching on Wall Street, you get the bull. The pictures that I saw with a corral around that Wall Street bull and the police force protecting it speaks volumes, it's the golden calf and obviously needs protecting. Because it's ok, to march against climate change, just don't bother the hedge fund managers.
It wasn't lost on me that while people are taking to the streets, protesting climate change, now it's time to bomb ISIS or ISIL or IS. Like, is that a coincidence? It seems like the only industry we've got left is the defense industry. I guess it's ok to bring out the bombs, I didn't hear anyone threatening to cut off the funding for that. I wonder what the carbon footprint of an airstrike is?
Then it's don't look now but there was some lame apology from the chief of police in Ferguson, that wasn't an apology at all. Here, we have another incidence of people taking to the streets, and a serious amount of militarized police pushback, that was pretty mindblowing. Oh yeah, and Eric Holder went down there to straighten things out. I hope he has better luck with that than the banks. So far, a month later and still no answer what caused an unarmed mans death.
The underlying thread in all this is inequality. Yeah, I am talking about Syria too, if Bashar Al Assad's government was at all fair, there wouldn't have been a revolution there and in so many other Middle Eastern countries and yes, the U.S did our share of bleeding the oil wells dry there, spreading our "democracy" and destabilizing that part of the globe.
What really gets me is most Americans and especially the people I encounter daily have no idea that corporations are destroying the planet, steering us into more wars and making sure they aren't prosecuted for any wrong doing. Last December, President Obama called inequality the "defining challenge of our time" I am not holding my breath waiting to see if he's up for the challenge. In the meantime there's an election coming up and there will be an astounding amount of people voting against their own self interests. I talked to a woman I work with yesterday, she won't be voting and she told me the reason why was because she doesn't know who to vote for and she's not going to bother to figure it out. Which is the majority of people. I don't blame them, the only person I am remotely interested in is Bernie Sanders maybe he'll get to run for president. It seems as if this two party system we have is really a one party system, making sure things stay exactly the way they are. Short of the revolution Chris Hedges talks about nothings going to change. You might as well just vote for inequality because it seems like that's all we get.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Corporate Climate


This is why I won't be marching,
Corporate fronts.
The Climate Group, endorsing This March, among its members?  BP, China Mobile, Dow Chemical Co., Duke Energy, HSBC, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Greenstone. The Environmental Defense Fund, In other words, it's bullshit. Chris Hedges: The Last Gasp of Climate Change Liberals - Chris Hedges - Truthdig
Remember this?  Obama Affirms Climate Change Goals
 Hey, read the New York Times! Here's what Maureen Dowd chose to wrote about, Willie Nelson Feels Maureen Dowd’s Pain - NYTimes.com
She wrote about Willie and Weed, but not a damn thing about climate change. Did she write one thing about Willie Nelsons's eco-friendly lifestyle? Willie Nelson still rocking biodiesel tour bus
Nope.

I wonder why?
Because...Oil, Black Gold, Texas Tea, Petrodollars. So what are we doing?  Bombing ISIS. Iraq, Syria,
That's what we do, oh yeah and fracking. Maybe if Jesus comes back and tells us we are in big trouble, our Puritan descendant's will listen. Until then, good luck U.N,. UN Climate Summit - UN Climate Summit 2014
The truth is, we would rather wage war than clean up the environment and find alternate sources of renewable energy. There is no such thing as climate change, repeat after me, there is no such thing as climate change, global warming. You can march all you want, however, until corporations stop controlling our government it doesn't matter how many people march. I wonder what the carbon footprint of all the people going to NYC to march will be?


Sunday, September 14, 2014

Are You Ready For Some Football?

I played football in my backyard when I was a kid with my brothers. That was pretty much it for football and
No Shit. Pic from Morningstar
me. I was really good at soccer and basketball. I got so good that boys would actually pick me first. You rarely got knocked down in soccer or basketball, if you did it was usually an accident. In football, it seemed to me that getting knocked down was the whole point. People were always getting hurt, especially my brother, he was always in the emergency room. Watching football was always a big deal on the holidays. I spent many miserable days when my husband would sulk or flip out because of whatever his football team did. I just don't like football.
The big topic at work wasn't bombing Iraq or ISIS, or as my friend would say as a joke, "is, is", it was that Ray Rice knocked out his wife with a punch in an elevator. "Did you see the video?" I kept getting asked. No I didn't and I don't want to. Here's the thing, domestic violence goes down everyday, everywhere. It's just that now with surveillance people behaving badly are caught on film. I am sure that the incident on that elevator wasn't the first time that asshole punched his wife. He'll probably punch a woman in the future. As long as men think they can get away with this behavior, they will continue to do it. Because keeping their hands to themselves isn't an option. It really doesn't surprise me that the NFL was utterly incompetent handling this situation and it did remind me of the whole Penn State affair. Because we worship these football people. They are like Gods. What is one punch worth?  Two games, which is what the NFL initially suggested.
We live in a culture of violence, football is a violent game, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a whole lot more stories or incidents of domestic violence that surface after this, what do you know? There are, only this time it's a grown man beating a 4 year old. Vikings running back Adrian Peterson faces two years in prison if found guilty of child abuse - NY Daily News
These are just the incidents we know about. It seems to me that the football industry is run by corrupt millionaires just like our government. The NFL has an image to keep polished but that image just keeps getting tarnished. Michael Vick abused animals and he's still playing. The litany of abuse is pretty bad, but then you are dealing with an organization where brain injuries and death are just part of the game. I don't know how much this could affect these players behavior but the whole culture of football is something I could never identify with. I did however, observe a whole lot of bad behavior based on a persons status on the high school team and how many women the captain of the team could use. Fights that would break out depending on which team you were cheering for. Then there's the whole insanity of cheerleading. To me football was just a huge waste of time. Being in a room full of yelling, screaming, wing eatin', beer swilling dudes, never did anything for me. The more I learn about what really goes on in football, the less I want anything to do with it.

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Back To Iraq

It's pretty clear to me that President Obama can't get anything done in this country, so lets go back to Iraq.
There are plenty of people who think Hellfire missiles are the way to go and bombs away! Don't get me wrong I'm no fan of ISIS or ISIL but didn't we give them weapons in the first place? Let's extrapolate this to when we armed Afghan rebels way back, Operation Cyclone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Which gave birth to Al Qaeda, and you know the rest.  A couple of weeks ago I was reading about Chuck Hagel, who made an arms deal with Turkey. That's no accident, Turkey is going to play a major role in this new/old conflict.
Why does it seem like we are caught up in an endless circle jerk? We pedal weapons or just give 'em away like candy and what do you know? People get carried away shooting, raping and pillaging and the next thing you know it's time for more bombs and  "advisers." Don't blink because if you do there will be boots on the ground. Not shocked that this is going down again. 
Billions of dollars and ten years spent training Iraq forces to control their own country. Only to discover that isn't working out, which really, it's our fault, all of it.
I don't know, but I am just going to throw it out there that there was a disappointing jobs report two days ago. Fast food jobs ain't cuttin' it anymore and those people are striking for $15 an hour. The economy is stagnant. People are either pissed off or mired in their own misery. They don't give a damn about Iraq, they don't even understand what's going on outside of the Fox News channel in their living room. They are exhausted from working two or three jobs.Then you have this;
Pic nicked from The Guardian
The President decided to go see Stonehenge while at the NATO Summit in Wales. Putin is out of control and I am so sure all these NATO countries are going to pony up and start chipping in so they can bankrupt their countries with endless conflict. I don't have a problem with the President sight seeing. But he needs to open his eyes and look at his own people, his own country. I guess the view is better at Stonehenge.