Slater

"Grab two beers and take the chute," went the lyrics of a humorous song on public radio this morning. Yet another blurb on Stephen Slater, pop-idol-of-the-moment.

What kind of culture looks to burned-out, angry service employees as heroes? The answer is simple: A culture which has allowed its rich to exploit its poor as cheap labor in unsatisfying service jobs with poor support and conditions. Wall Street profits are made off the backs of the Stephen Slaters of the U.S.. And, the American people have yet to connect the dots, since the American media have been bought and dominated by the likes of Ruppert Murdoch.

Sadly, most Americans don't seem to zoom out from the view on their TVs or iPhones. They are caught up in the trends of a fickle news machine which avoids the big issues. Dissent gets framed in terms of harmlessly quirky Tea Party rallies, where racism and guns are often mainstays, the vacant rantings of Sarah Palin and the equally bizarre Rand Paul. Thus the true Left is ignored and devalued entirely. Why? The answer again is simple: The corporations have decided to rule by manipulating existing elements of American society and government. They are playing Devil to the materialistic American Fausts on all levels of society.

As for Stephen Slater, is his behavior itself admirable and laudable? Of course not. It is the infantile, reactive tantrum of someone ill-suited for a particular career. As a retired nurse, I empathize with his frustration and anger at the rudeness of his passengers, but I think his reaction was worthy of arrest and repercussions. He was being paid. His passengers were paying a fee for his services. Tantrums will not change the conditions which caused his meltdown. Admiring tantrums in others is an indication of social illness and an avoidance of the hard work to address the bigger issues, which are very challenging.

Moore

I consider Michael Moore my soul brother. Last evening, I watched his film, "Capitalism: A Love Story". If you haven't seen the film, I recommend it. If you don't agree with the politics of the film, you will still get a few laughs.

The laughs endear Michael Moore to me. He is the daring fool, the courageous bumbler, on the surface. Inside his down-home, just-another-guy exterior, Michael is truly awake to the truths of the human condition. He is wise, as well as being a wise guy.

For me, Michael's greatest service to humanity in this film is his exposure of the Ronald Reagan presidency as a coup d'etat by Wall Street. Everything political since Reagan's ascendancy in 1980 has been guided by the financiers in New York. This casts a clear light on the motivation behind the attack of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent bristling of the American government into war and internal-spying mode for the last 7 years. The paranoic response of a shadow government to the light of exposure.

The major Hollywood backing for Michael Moore's "Capitalism" confirmed my suspicion that the corruption and control of the government by Wall Street has offended even the most calloused sensibilities in America. Yet, the majority of citizens seem dulled, narcotized. Is it the high obesity rate? Is it the high substance abuse rate? Is it a societal depression? Perhaps it is all of them.

Corporatocracy?

This video (link below) was produced for Bell Labs in 1958. It warned of global warming. I am sure the oil industry has been suppressing this information since before 1958. Eisenhower, having allowed Congress, the oil industry and auto industry to tear apart the public transit system in the U.S. in order to sell more cars, warned the public of the military-industrial complex too late. Was it the confession of a guilt-ridden man?

GO TO VIDEO NOW.

Polls

I have been looking at several polling sites. I occurred to me that there is no regulation or oversight of these polling sites.

So, a thought came to me, as I saw a preponderance of positive data about Red States and a preponderance of negative data about Blue States on one site: In a media-driven, poll-diven, divided government, wouldn't it be likely that corrupting interests would manage to control and manipulate polls? Who would know? The polling sites I have visited show no signs of transparency in terms of their corporate links, institutional links or their data. Yet, our politicians are driven by these statisticians' pronouncements about the voter's psyche.

Is it really likely, for example, that the majority of a population, plagued by a major financial collapse and its insecurities, really doesn't want improved health care coverage? or sticter climate remediation policies? I wonder, but whose numbers can I trust in a society which has been corrupted by international corporate manipulation?

Corruption

The Blue Dog Coalition is the dragging brake on social progress in Congress. I see them as the opportunists they obviously are.

These are politicians who are exploiting the Democratic Party in states where Republicans traditionally get elected. In fact, I suspect many of these conservatives of being Republicans in Democratic clothing. I blame the national leaders of the Democratic party for allowing these Right Wing politicians to pose as Democrats in order to achieve token electoral results.

While I have heard Howard Dean actively debating some of the Blue Dog camp, I am not convinced that the Democratic Party has not sold out to corporate America, especially Wall Street Banks and the Health Insurance Industry.

The necessary progressive agenda on the environment, energy independence, health care and education cannot proceed under the present conditions in Congress. The politicians in that body have conveniently subscribed to Neoliberal Economic Theory, as cover for their prostituting themselves to corporate America. In reality, they have been paid off or threatened by the wealthy interests in this country to not pass any legislation that will shift the tax burden back on those who own 90% of the wealth in the US. The wealthiest 5% of the US population are calling the shots, in other words. This means no progress to drastically improve the lives of the other 95% of the US population.

It is a strange experience for me to concede that the Right Wing extremists in the Republican Party are perhaps more genuine and less corrupt than the Neoliberal Blue Dogs. This does not compensate for their ignorance, of course, but it is a stunning realization that the Democratic Party, which once stood for transparency, fairness and economic equality, has gone over to the dark side of the corporatocracy.

Observing this is part of my practice. Speaking it is also part of my practice. Writing to those who represent me is also part of my practice. If all those who see the absurdity of the Blue Dog positions on progressive initiatives simply wrote to their Blue Dog representatives, things may well change for the better for all US citizens. The current trend to enrich the rich and further impoverish the vast majority can only lead to disaster for all.

Ethics

Peter Galbraith, son of a prominent American political family, has demonstrated the etiquette and importance of ethics in true democratic culture. He has been castigated for it by corrupted men in international seats of power.



The corrupt shrug at the practicality of corruption in others. This is the way of politics and the world of materialistic men without ethics and higher vision. Keeping their secrets overrides keeping their standards of ethical behavior. When exposed, the corrupt encircle each other defensively, like a pack of attacked wolves. The truthsayer is isolated, punished, expelled.

This behavior has infected all layers of civic culture and business culture in the U.S. and in the developed world. It is symptomatic of governmental and corporate reactions to overpopulation, stressed environments and stretched natural resources. Greed is a symptom of the awareness of the wealthy classes, usually well educated, to the impending environmental disasters on this planet.

Is this behavior conscious? I doubt it is as conscious as it is pervasive and infectious. Capitalism has no consciousness. Corporations have no definable consciousness. Accumulation of wealth drives capitalist corporations in the same way hunger drives a pack of wolves. However, the hunger of corporations is unmitigated. Corporations never have full bellies. They never sleep.

The practice of truthfulness in all things is a bad business model in a capitalist world. This is a crucial conflict for any person who wishes to practice mindfulness, truthfulness and compassion in his/her daily life. It is a moment-by-moment choice. Making the right choice and taking the right action in each moment over time builds practice. In my experience, living in this practice, while never easy or monetarily enriching, builds the strength and skills which also ensure living well within the realities of the world.

Prizes

What a difference a day makes. Or does it?

Recently I posted questions about the current U.S. government's commitment to nonviolence and universal justice. This morning I awoke to the good news that President Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize. This is a great honor, despite the fact that the Nobel Peace Prize was withheld five times from Gandhi, considered by many to be the modern patron saint of nonviolence. It is a great honor, despite the fact that two other nominees, a women-rights activist in Afghanistan and a Congolese doctor, working with rape victims, risk their lives every time they step out their front doors in their own countries. I sincerely hope Mr. Obama uses this elevated stature as peacemaker in the eyes of the world's elite to foster an end to American aggression and violence against civilian populations.

A more stunning development occurred in the U.S. Congress in the last twenty four hours. The House of Representatives managed to include GLBT people in the Federal Hate Crime statutes through an inclusion in a defense budget bill. I find this rather ironic, but I will accept this as an attempt of those with a clear popular mandate on this issue to deliver. Well done. The snarling of the Right Wing is minimal. Perhaps a more amazing development.

However, the most encouraging news of the past twenty four hours for me was an NPR report that new Supreme Court justice, Justice Sotomayor, courageously questioned the 1911 statute that declared U.S. corporations to be persons under the law. Brava! This question is potentially the beginning of a challenge to the strangle-hold the corporations have on the entire political process in the United States.

My previously posted questions about political will against violence, aggression and injustice still stand. I am heartened by today's news. I have not abandoned my belief that Mr. Obama and some in Congress and other branches of government are sincere in their own hope for change. Yet, I hope for greater transparency. I hope for actual results.

Prison

The United States has 5% of the world's population and 23.6% of the world's prison population.

What does that say about the success of our government? What does it say about our culture? What does that say about the grand concept of Freedom, touted by the hypocrites in Congress and in the military-industrial complex (corporatocracy)?

In the United States at the end of 2001, 10% of the population owned 71% of the wealth, and the top 1% controlled 38%. On the other hand, the bottom 40% owned less than 1% of the nation's wealth. Now, according to some estimates, the top 10% of the US population hold 90% of the nation's wealth. This is attributed largely to the economic policies of the Republican administration from 2001-2009 and the subsequent continuation of their monetary policy by the current administration.

Thieves

Wake up America!

Bail Out = Corporate Welfare = Your Future Bankrupted.

G-8

Last week, the puppets of the world's greediest people, the so-called "world leaders", met in Germany, where they fawned on each other with embraces and applause, while thousands of committed, brave and mindful protesters were kept miles away by the fascist troops of the global corporatocracy (the government constituted by the concerted influence of corporations on world governments). This summit was not reported in this light by any of the several radio, television and mainstream Internet outlets I frequent. I feel I need to add my view here in this obscure space, because the number of those who are awake to the evils of fascist and oligarchic domination of the population of the world seems to be shrinking. How has the age of information brought us to this place? How has the age of information allowed for this surrender of the masses to economic and psychological enslavement? Perhaps this is simply evidence that knowledge itself does not bring mindfulness unless incorporated into practice. The practice of living in the light of truth, honesty with oneself and others in all things, does not allow for submission to the powers who are now trampling on human rights, the environment and the core values of civic responsibility to the people of the world, not the elite. As can be seen clearly in those whose forebears have submitted to slavery, the road back from enslavement is much longer than the road to submission.

Vietnam

The overwhelming stupidity of the current American policy in Iraq, including the support of Congress for another year's 'mandate', must be motivated by corruption and greed. I say this as someone who lived through the American involvement in Vietnam and paid attention and protested. Anyone who lived through the American mistakes there cannot possibly deny the growing parallels with this misery in Iraq. And what happened when American troops left Vietnam? Eventually peace happened. The same will occur eventually in Iraq, and that very peace is what the corrupt and greedy fear most. A peaceful, reformed Iraq, whether democratic or theocratic, would not threaten American citizens here in America. That is a big lie to promote American paranoia and submission to an out-of-control Rightist regime, which has reaped billions of dollars from this policy for its patrons. It would threaten big oil, Zionist collusion with big oil, and despots like the Saudis. A reconciled Iraq and Iran, under common Shi'ite Islam, is the great nightmare of corrupt governments in Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. This concept scares the hell out of the Right Wing everywhere. Why? Because Shi'ite politics are far to the Left of any of the major players in the region at this time. It really is less about religion than it is about corporate control of all nations under one god. That god is money. And that god only smiles on the wealthiest ten percent of the world's population. My practice is to remain balanced and detached despite my anger over this bare fact. This practice separates me from the violent and the hopeless. I believe Truth and Light, the objects of man's earliest devotions, will eventually create balance and peace for all those who seek them.

Corporations

Gangs, clans and militias are the smaller versions of corporations. The behavior of the poor and disenfranchised reflects the behavior of the rich and powerful who dominate and exploit them. The world, as dominated by atavistic war-based competition between heterosexual males, is bound to be violent, despite illusions of so-called capitalist democracy. Until the people of the world unite against the greedy and aggressive, as they have done historically nation by nation, there will be no real peace or general human evolution.

Rituals

The Thanksgiving holiday approaches here in America. While the Democratic Party politicians may have a lot to be thankful for this year, the rest of us are struggling to figure out just what this ritual means in a fragmented society where even the sanctimoniously touted extended family is an anachronism. Yes, there is always a place for a party, a pot luck dinner, or a brunch among friends and relations. But, the commericalization and indoctrination associated with these end-of-year holidays seems more and more hollow each year. Perhaps this is a good thing. Our human attachment to the past is constantly being challenged. As population and survival pressures increase, due to environmental deterioration of the planet, it would do the species well to snap out of it and tend to what is important for the future. Perhaps the erosion of the overestimated family values, organized religions, national identities are all symptoms of an unconscious human adjustment to what is actually happening to us on a basic natural level. I hope so. For my part, it will require special attention to my practice to get through this holiday season with balance and emotional well being.

Microfinancing

Last week an Indian banker was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Truly amazing. This man has made a living from giving loans, as little as $27, to the poor of India. He boasts changing lives by bringing entrepreneurs out of poverty. There is a 50% success rate among his customers, though most pay him back. His greatest boast entails lending money to women in rural villages who then buy HIS cell phones (he happens to own the largest cell phone company in India). The women then charge fellow villagers to use the cell phone because they cannot afford to buy one. Chances are most never will, if they spend all their meager savings renting the cell phones from this man's customers. In a society where people are reduced to feeling like microbes due to poverty and overpopulation, I wonder if it matters to them whether they are consumed by a shark or a minnow. In any case, I think the Nobel Peace Prize Committee has really captured the spirit of these times. I suppose, in the current materialistic mind, which is encompassing the Industrial World, the possibilities for profit and sainthood are endless and entwined. I do not believe in saints, con men or profiteering philanthropists. It is part of my practice to see and speak the truth as I see it.

Stocks

The stock markets are evolved monsters, originating in market squares of primitive villages. They are the playground of the wealthy, greedy, aggressive and materialistic. In recent times, they have been touted to the general public as beneficent and necessary features of 'freedom' in the capitalist catechism. This is part of the scheme, of course. The scheme of the rich to get richer at the expense of the gullible. Socialism is the only check against runaway capitalism. Socialism, basically embodied in the sharing of capital and resources through government administration of tax revenues, has been responsible for the general improvement in health, education and quality of life for the masses of the industrial societies. Stock markets are to social welfare, as casinos are to hospitals. In other words, apples and oranges. While freedom does entail the unimpeded existence of stock markets, it does not exclude socialism. And, the source of the wealth required for social improvements in a society is basically irrelevant. However, the recent attempt of government to fuse the concept of stock market trading with social welfare is perverse and dangerous. That is the road to fascism. In my own practice, I try to align my need for economic freedom with my social responsibilities to the general society. I do not begrudge my tax payments, unless I see those revenues being stolen or squandered by unscrupulous politicians. It takes the vigilance and right action of all citizens in a society to maintain and promote the welfare of everyone in it.