Labels: 0th UU principle, 5th UU principle, 6th UU principle, angry at organized religions, Christianity, Community, favorite scriptural passages, Islam, our mission, paradigm shift, pax hominibus, war and peace

Labels: 4th UU principle, art, Christianity, freedom versus freedom, globalism, personal growth, prayer, salvation, war and peace

Labels: angels, heaven on earth, peace, personal bookmarks, theological sources, war and peace

Dear Mary Jane,

I imagine this Janice Hahn may be a good candidate, however I will not be helping Organizing for America now or in 2012.

I am entirely disenfranchised with the right/centrist agenda Barack Obama has been pursuing.  His policies have amounted to making "Change We Can Believe In" the saddest hollow promise I've ever heard in my 42 years.

Specifically, his budgetary policies continue to serve the wealthy corporate investors in a fashion similar to George W Bush including offering to trade away social security; he is continuing to invest our military in wars upon wars rather than pursue more peaceable solutions; his administration flip-flops on the drug war, muddying the legal waters while continuing to harass moral and innocent people in medical need, using taxpayer dollars as if they are criminals; and he has done astonishingly little to support renewable energy, compared to subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear. 

Therefore, his name attached to your request does not inspire me to help you unless he truly becomes "The Change I Thought I Was Believing In."  Please send him this message--I voted for him in 2008, but he and any Democratic candidates he supports have squandered my good faith, and lost my support for 2012.
,
With peace and real hope,
Joel

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes
the existing model obsolete."
 -Buckminster Fuller (Architect and Geometrist)

Labels: changing the prison paradigm, classism, drug war, peace, politics, renewable energy, USA, war and peace

.


Sorry about that.

Anyway, here's a link to a neat song I found from NewEden.org. I don't subscribe to the video's theology of a eucatastrophic discontinuity theory (a.k.a. that kind of rapture) and the substitutional salvation accompanying it, but still a good song.

Maybe I'll cover it some day with a spin.

lyrics:I wish we'd all been ready.

pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: music, parousia, pax hominibus/bright shiny future, personal bookmarks, theological sources, war and peace

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On Facebook, I made friends randomly with a person from Iran, and saw that this person had a "Stop Violence Against My People" sign in place of their profile picture. I sent them a message to find out how they are doing and let them know my prayers are with them. This person sent me back a message saying:

Thank you for your consideration.
Yes, this is for peace, freedom, liberty, democracy & ... & everything good. We hate the government and specially Ahmadi Nejad! He is not our president! You can see the videos in youtube...
This is the GREEN revolution!
We are in a WAR for PEACE!!!

Peace and love,
[name]

Here is a YouTube video documentary I came across. I'll post it without commentary for now.


pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: anti-oppression, globalism, inter-faith, multiculturalism, politics, war and peace

 Here is a man who lied and cheated his way into the presidency.  Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and then used that presidency to direct the taxpayers' money (including future taxes -- his administration borrowed HUGE sums of money, which will have to be paid back) into wars and into the pockets of the rich.  The list of atrocities commited upon the American people is almost too much to fathom.  (There are people good wholesome values and convictions who were so upset by his anti-American fearmongering, warmongering, and obstinacy -- and calling it "American" from the highest seat of power -- in the face of justice that they are pretty near suffering from PTSD.)

Labels: changing the prison paradigm, freedom versus freedom, globalism, politics, restorative justice, USA, war and peace

Here's some weird propaganda on 60 minutes about a non-lethal raygun called the Active Denial System by those who want to use i. The decisions regarding its use, and the settings in which it is shown and suggested for use shows how messed up the war machine really is. In the video, there are a couple things that are preposterous and stinky at the same time.

1. They present what they call a "realistic" scenario, in which marines dressed up as anti-war protesters, are attacking American soldiers by shouting at them and throwing rocks. From the video:

"The targets here are people. Military volunteers creating a scenario soldiers might encounter in Iraq. [Shouts from military actors of 'go home!' and 'no more war' and 'get out of my country' along with throwing rocks.] Angry protesters advancing on American troops, who have to choose between backing down and opening fire. Off in the distance, a half a mile away, the operator of the raygun has the crowd in his sights. [He says over the bullhorn, 'Individuals, this is your final warning -- leave this area now.' To which the protester actor military volunteers reply, 'We will not leave! You leave!]'

Its interesting that the raygun operator refers to the group as "individuals." I wonder how well that psychology actually works in the field. Its highly interesting that in this example, they are using it on war protesters, albeit those of the supposedly Iraqi variety. The danger is that there are people who would use it for domestic control. This device is only a tool. It could be used for awesome purposes. Imagine if the U.S. military (or better yet, the U.N.) marched into Myanmar (or Somalia in 1995, or other places where its difficult to supply humanitarian aid) with 20 of these, and telling the dictatorial warlords, "We ARE bringing food, shelter, and clothing to these disaster victims, we will not be killing anybody to do it, and you will be unable to stop us." That would be a potential Good use of this technology. But if its used to suppress freedom of speech or the freedom to peaceably congregate, or the freedom of protest, or to disperse protesters and quiet their voices, that's a Bad Thing.

2. Sue Payton, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, uses the statement, "We have war-fighters that are in harm's way..." War-fighters? Does she mean soldiers? Or does she mean people who fight against war, a.k.a. "peace protesters."

And here's the scary part that keeps my worries well-founded: In 2006, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne was quoted as saying that the device should be used first on Americans, because "if we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation.

WHAT???? Our military uses giant bombs and guns in wartime situations, and while I'd prefer they didn't, I'd like to further think that they would not be willing to use those first against our fellow citizens. AND using a non-lethal weapon like this in a combat zone could be a first step in drawing down the violence, instead of having to use live munitions.

At another point, as a reason for using it as a crowd-control device, the statement gets made "You never ever want something like this to be thought of as a torture weapon." A conspiracy-oriented person might think that the military/government would want to set a context up using certain frames and words that make it seem good, and then get (or give themselves) a bit more free license to do something less just with it.

Note here that the Air Force representative said "You can be sure that if they continue to come at you, they're not a tourist. They're probably a terrorist or an adversary who wants to do you harm." In this, she tacitly implies the right of the military to be chasing people off and scattering them from whatever it is they're doing that is dangerous, or deemed unlawful, inappropriate, unnecessary, or dissent-oriented.

This is really a freedom versus freedom issue, and is what the creation of the U.S. constitution and the bill of rights were designed to clarify. It really does go all the way back to the founding of our country. I believe it was Foucault who said the state is the one who has the authorized use of violence. But that authority wears pretty thin in some places, especially when its impinging on the freedoms of its own citizens. The bill of rights is designed to protect freedom of speech.

So what happens when the government declares certain areas off-limits to free speech, or designates certain areas as "free-speech zones" implying that other areas are not, at least temporarily? And more importantly, if a device like this is used as a weapon to control people (which it likely would be), who are its users going to be controlling, and in what ways? Will they be suppressing free speech? Or will they be clearing away truly dangerous people who would endanger a merit-worthy mission? That's a big difference. In either case, it's potentially better not to have to use lethal power against people, but again, using lethal or non-lethal power to coerce people's actions is a serious infringement on their freedom, so the reasons need to be clear and up-front.

Overall, this device may have some good uses, but its definitely got some bad uses as well.

OK time for bed, and sweet dreams, hopefully not about the A.D.S., or any of those scary "waiting tables all night long and not getting paid" dreams. Yeech.


pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: anti-oppression, economics, freedom versus freedom, oppression, peace, USA, war and peace

Here is an item of interest I've been thinking on, and want to briefly share my chagrin.

At this Onion link, we have the following statement by a fictional person:

Lynn Fitzpatrick, Florist, "Giving money to institutions that failed at their only job, which was to have money, may not be the best strategy."
I read a few months back now about how congress was voting to add $168 billion to stimulate the economy. And the cynical part of me was wondering, "Which part of the economy are they stimulating?" I say this because the U.S. governmental budget stimulates the military-industrial complex part of the economy every year now to the tune of ~$600 billion, and yet the renewable energy part of the economy gets stimulated by the government to the tune of $210 million. That's a factor well over 2000 times as much going to the military for oil-based interests than to research on better energy sources that would provide us with real security.

EOM.


pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: economics, environment, renewable energy, war and peace

.
I just saw this from CNBC that shows a simple slideshow (courtesy of the National Priorities Project) of how federal tax dollars are actually spent. I'm going to say this and try not to express any outrage. Simply by the numbers.

Out of every dollar, here is how much goes toward the following expenditures:

BUDGET CATEGORY	CENTS PER DOLLAR
Military:	42.2 cents
Health Care:	22.1 cents
Interest on Debt:	10.2 cents
Anti-Poverty Programs:	8.7 cents
Education:	4.4 cents
Government and Law Enforcement: :	3.9 cents
Housing and Community Development:	3.3 cents
Environment, Energy, and Science:	2.6 cents
Agriculture, Commerce, and Transportation:	1.5 cents
International Affairs:	1.0 cents

The US government spends:

• about five times more for war than for helping the poor.
• about nine times more for war than for educating its youth.
• over 2600 times more for war than for research on renewable energy.

And from here, regarding funding for solar energy development, the Bush administration requested from Congress $11,068,000 LESS in 2008 than was enacted in 2007. Likewise, he requested over $9 million less for wind energy, $5 million less for geothermal (actually requesting zero dollars!), the exact same amount for and even asking for $20 million less for biomass research (which I find less inspiring than the first three anyway).

Excluding the biomass, all of these combined (<$210 million) are slightly more than 1/3 of their budget request for fossil fuel R&D ($567 million), and about 1/4 of the budget request for nuclear power ($802 million) That says something about energy priorities. What do we say about a president who works against a positive trend? I haven't had words for a long time, but they wouldn't be words I'd use in front of my mother. I'm always uncomfortable using negative words around my mother. I want her to see me finding the positive things and praising them. Go, solar! Hooray for wind! Go, geothermal, go tidal power!

lyrics: "Jesus would never forgive what you do." from Masters of War, by Bob Dylan

colors: pick a pie chart color theme

mood: tired

chant/prayer/mantra: love your neighbor


pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: economics, environment, renewable energy, war and peace

Tuning: D#G#C#F#A#D# (mnemonic: David Geffen Company, Free and Demonstrative), or D#A#F#D#A#D#, or Standard Tuning.

Played: With the spirit of Revolve, by The Melvins (off Stoner Witch, not Electro-Retard.

Intro: [Growing Chant: "Emergency!...." x24, with pulsing single note melody of first string at the ninth fret]

Chorus: [guitar chords (string 6 to string 1, in any of the above tunings):
line 1: 999899, 777677, 444344; "world wake up today!"
line 2: 999899, 777677, 444344; "if you don't we'll be falling in a liminal place)." (bkgd vocals: "that's hell.")
line 3: 777677, 555455, 222122; "world wake up today!"
line 3: 777677, slide into 999899, 777677, 444344; "world wake up today!"

Verse One: [reminder of ever-present threat of nuclear annihilation, and 40-odd other ways we could do ourselves into extinction]

Chorus::
line 1: 999899, 777677, 444344; "world wake up today!"
line 2: 999899, 777677, 444344; "if you don't we'll be blowing into outer space!"
line 3: 777677, 555455, 222122; "world wake up today!"
line 3: 777677, slide into 999899, 777677, 444344; "world wake up today!"

Verse Two: [religious ideologues at each other's throats and media lies, adamant beliefs in the accuracy of the bible, qur'an, book of urantia, texe marrs, blah, blah, blah]

Chorus::
line 1: 999899, 777677, 444344; "world wake up today!"
line 2: 999899, 777677, 444344; "if you don't we may never see divinity's grace!"
line 3: 777677, 555455, 222122; "world wake up today!"
line 3: 777677, slide into 999899, 777677, 444344; "world wake up today!"

Verse Three: [spirit of christ returned after holy spirit got over the whole being xified thing and awoke enstrengthened]

Chorus::
line 1: 779997, 668886, 446664, 224442; "world wake up today!"
line 2: 779997, 668886, 446664, 668886, 446664, 224442, 0022200, 224442; "when you do, blah, blah, nice and cheery, sunshiney face!
line 3: 779997, 668886, 779997; "world wake up today!"
line 3: 779997, 668886, 779997; "world wake up today!"

Fade out:
"A voice cries out through the din."
"And all the peoples awake, all the people will know one another..."
"And all the peoples awake, all the people will love one another..."
"And all the peoples awake, all the people will trust one another..."
"And all the peoples awake, all the people will be with each other..."

"And all the peoples will know one another..."
"And all the peoples will know one another..."

lyrics: See above.

colors: Red, Creamy Off-white, Brown, Yellow, Light-Brown, Blue.

mood: excited, bewildered.

chant/prayer/mantra: l0ve and wAke up!

link: Ron Paul straight talking about the issues.


pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: guitar, melvins, music, politics, war and peace

When I'm president, in addition to taking care of the homeless in general, I intend to take care of the troops. Here is an article about the disastrous reception and care that our Vietnam veterans got and our Iraq veterans are getting, and the fact that there are almost 200k of them who are homeless.


pax hominibus,
joel

Labels: homelessness, politics, war and peace

Hi All-

My sweetie and I just got done watching Iron Jawed Angels, starring Hilary Swank, Anjelica Huston, and Francis O'Connor. It's a movie about suffragettes during the 1910's who fought tooth and nail for women's rights, and how hard they had to struggle and the jail time they did, just to get the right to vote and to try to get an Equal Rights Amendment for women's equality (still waiting almost 90 years later for that to be ratified by enough states, BTW). See this movie-- it's stunning and inspiring.

Also, while I'm in the mood, here's Girl Genius comics, Big Beautiful Wonder Woman, and Wapsi Square.

lyrics: Something by Velvet Underground.

colors: Pink.

mood: Beat.

chant/prayer/mantra: Make mine Code Pink please.


pax hominibus,
joel

Labels: BBWs, war and peace, Women's Rights

Hi Friends-

Watch this video (thanks to Andy for the link), to gain a better understanding of how and why the United States has evolved over the last 25 years into a fear-based society.

Its sad that the nation's "leaders" would use psychological abuse to get people to kowtow to them, but says boatloads about their collective character.

lyrics: some funky guitar by Beck off of Mutations.

colors: grainy old black and white

mood: outraged

chant/prayer/mantra: may the people of peace speak their piece always, whether invited or not.


pax hominibus,
joel

Labels: media, politics, war and peace

I got a new Pentium M laptop for school a few months back. The integrated wireless card that came with it seriously sucks. As I'm typing this, I wonder if the connection will remain strong enough to send the bits through the wireless router when I send it. The wireless access point is about 12 feet away, just below me in the basement. I needed to update drivers earlier, and presently don't feel comfortable trying to access my Ximeta NDAS single hard disk server from the wireless laptop connection. Even when two feet from the wireless access point, the laptop behaves like somebody fed it lock-up pills when I try to connect to the NDAS server. I got the NDAS single hard disk server for the express purpose of being able to store and access my files on a lighter weight server than a full 300 watt box running all the time. Fortunately, the NDAS works great with the wired computers, so I can transfer files to the laptop by first transferring them to a desktop and then sharing the folder that the files are in. But for the most part, that defeats the purpose -- I could've just gotten an extra hard drive for my desktop and turned it on when I needed to share it.

Simple. The new technology is sometimes painful. How often do we accept that our cell phone connection drops out and our conversation gets cut off? Or our PDA falls to the ground and we lose three weeks of data since the last hotsync? Sync it up more frequently, that's the ticket. Getting to and from work requires a heck of a lot of effort. Either I drive and have to fight among traffic and obey stoplights and the rules of the road, or I bike or walk and have to fend off drivers without my own 1000 pound exoskeleton. A somewhat reliable one at that. Our car had a lot of issues the first 80000 miles, but the last 30000 have been pretty trouble free. Still, it's no secret that a car drains you head to feet.

This laptop has another issue. When I type, about once every few sentences, keys will registter twice -- that last instance wasn't intentional. I'm a great typist, and never have that problem with other keyboards. Unfortunately, this means that if I want to make sure that I don't have typos, I actually have to read the words as I type, even if I type them perfectly. Kind of a hassle.

I used to think that it would be so exciting when we finally have bionic ears, so that when our hearing is totally shot, or if one is deaf, there can just be a microphone membbrane within the auricle that sends an electrical signal to an electrical-neural junction where it's parsed direct by the brain. Unfortunately, I bet it will have a few bugs at first. Bleeding edge always does. For those who havve been deaf all their lives it will be a true miracle and I will sing hallelujah alongg with them. BUT even though my ears are overly sensitive to sounds and I could probably hear better, I wouldn't want to trade them for the new technology until it "just works" and is maintenance free enough that I'd have to get them checked on as frequently as I go to the audiologist, which isn't very often.

The point I guess I was getting at is that technology hasn't really arrived until it "just works". I think we're all excited about progress, or at least we should be in most cases, but there's a reason that cable TV, broadcast TV, TIVO, and FM radio are going to be around for a long time, while intternet streaming and downloads will be popular for some who swim upstream, but not entirely ubiquitous. When people can go to the local Target/Shopko/Walmart, pay $300 for a device that they plug into the wall, switch it to Channel Slashdot or Channel Wikipedia, or Channel HotOlderAsianLadies, it will catch on. Better yet instead of a channel changer, there'd be easy, configurable AND acquiescent portals that help guide you to the information/bits you really want or need, rather than funnelling you to the highest paying advertiser, then we'll be at a real level of maturity in the information age.

Right now, computers and the internet are a powerful medium, but I see them also as a hostile environment. Yes, yes, I can build a computer up from parts. With a bit of time I could configure a Linux distribution if I could spare the time, but I'd rather do otherwise. Put Linux inside of a $300 configurable internet appliance that "just works" on a communication system that is outside of the spamosphere, where it's not about buy and sell, but about free information trade. That will have people lining up ffrom Beijing to Helsinki to Los Angeles. Of course, in addition to having a browser, it'd be nice to havve it ship native with an email program, a newsreader, an instant messaging program, multimedia software for editing pictures, audio, video, flash, html, C++, formatted documents, etc. While we're dreaming here, why not roll them all into the OS, so they load when the OS loads, and feel truly integrated, rather than as separate disjoint programs? I suppose you'd need more memory in this system, but maybe these programs could be much more dynamic about allocating memory, so when they initially load, only the outer shell of the program's functionality is actually up. When accessed, it loads up the parts that it needs and deallocates as the code path gets far enough away from functions. Yeah, that's the ticket. And of course, to the stupid user, it all "just works," and they don't need to know anything more about it than they need to put toast in the toastter, or to turn on the hot water. And they don't need to type, since the OS has a microphone and logic that helps it to identify your speech as well as one human can tell what another is saying. Sure, it would all be rudimentary at first, only understanding the words you say to it, but eventually as it learns your movements and gestures and has a couple decent CCDs for parallax viewing, it'd be able to decipher body language and the tone of your voice.

Not long after that, we'll have ourselves a real rational AI. And of course, not just any rational AI, but one that will be able to ascertain what needs to be done better than we do, and maybe one that can control its base desires, or is entirely naive to the idea that impure motives could ever exist. Then, programmed correctly, that AI can run the world (as a steward with the best interests of the Earth and all inhabitants firmly in mind/logic), and we can just go about living our lives, following our recreational, vocational, and avocational desires, while the show runs itself.

Sure, it's idealistic to think all that, but somebody needs to set some goals. That's where I see us in a hundred years if we make it through the mess today, and can choke off all the bad seeds before they grow.

And yes, I know there are a lot of other checkpoints that we need to hit before we get to that state. Point A will always be where we are at. Point B is where we are trying to get to. It requires frequent progress updates of the direction and the magnitude of the current vector we're on. Are we heading toward point B? Has anyone really set up a point B that we can come to a consensus on?

Some people think that point B is not for us to define, or for us to experience the Rapture(tm) -- I think the "Left Behind" publishers should be allowed to claim that as (tm) if not actually (r).
Some people think that point B is for them to assume control over others -- the Taliban, the major corporations, the leading world governments, the financial elite, to name a few.
Some think that point B is to live out in the stars, but it will be a while until we're ready for tthat -- once we get the nuclear fusion thing figured out (my guess is it'll be "just works" in 70 years. Sad that I likely won't live to see it).

But on a serious note, none of us will live to see it if we are not able to collectively focus focus focus focus focus focus focus on the problems that beset us on all sides today. From every direction the sirens are loud, and I'm just pointing them out.

From a triage perspective, the short list of seeds that must be planted and sprout quickly (next five years):
1. Peace. Fucking dammit. Peace. Now.
a. This comes through security
b. Peace comes through justice.
c. Peace comes through forgiveness of others' past injustices.
d. Peace comes through repentance and atonement on the part of all who commit injustices (include self here please - a very rare ffew indeed are beyond reproach)
2. Secure and dismantle every weapon of mass destruction, then every weapon that can blow off somebody's limbs or put holes in their skin (knives excluded).
a. Make it understood to all that we are one collective community, spread across continents and island.
b. Remove the idea of bombing, shooting, and murdering from the list of tolerable behaviors. Not ever should these things be done. If we find that humans need to slowly wean off it, take it into virtual reality. Quake 3 or Halo or Doom should help. Just stop killing real people.
3. Put major funding toward securing biological dangers, including viruses, disease, genetic mutation, etc.
4. Keep our eyes on the sky in a serious way to watch for asteroids, and develop means to prevent them colliding with Earth.
5. We need to collectively ascertain reasons WHY its important that our civilization continue and thrive.
a. Our existence here and now is a miracle, in and of itself.
b. When we're here on Earth, we can think of a lot of ways to have fun.
6. Start living within our true means, at sustainable levels of resource use.
a. This one, I fear, will be tough for everyone. When I was young, we were told to conserve energy. Until we find ways to tap more powerful, safe energy sources and use raw materials judiciously, we need to conserve resources. Take pride in being efficient with resources, not in earning money from them.
b. Curb population growth (drastically). Encourage others to have fewer children, so we'll use less resources. We need to get down to ~4 billion by 2050, and eventually hit stasis somewhere around 1.5 - 2 billion.
7. Talk to your neighbors. Get to know them. Help them. Rely on them. Be kind to them. "who is my neighbor, blah blah blah?" Anyone within proximity to your person, or whom you communicate with via telephone, email, instant messaging, or facemail. Yes, people may suck sometimes, but see the good in the others. See it in yourselves.

The next revolution will not be political. By necessity, it will be spiritual.

Love.

Labels: artificial intelligence, computers, heaven on earth, our mission, pax hominibus/bright shiny future, religious community, salvation, technology, war and peace

Hi.

Today while I was driving back from a doctor's appointment (I'm doing better lately, thank you), while I was stopped at a stoplight on the corner of Washington and Mendota by Schlotschky's sandwich shop, and wheere K-Mart used to be, I looked to my left. There in the car to my left was a man probably five years younger than me, with black skin, and a shaved head, dressed in camo army fatigues.

That got me thinking. There have been a lot of American soldiers sent over to Iraq, and many of them have come back, and will carry the memory of their story from over there until they die. Most of them will pass the emotions they carry onto their wives, husbands, children, friends and loved ones.

On behalf of the good people of America, I'll submit that the Bush administration, the previous Bush administration, and their supporters have our most sincere sarcastic thanks for bringing a wrong and harmful war to this generation. It seems that every generation has a war, and many of them have been necessary; however this one was not only unnecessary and harmful to both American and Iraqi citizens, it was entered into with an atmosphere of secrecy, lies, and coercion. And thanks to trade deficits, here in America, we are going to find that China will surpass us over time as the major economic power. They have been making better decisions, have been conserving their resources, where we spend amazing amounts of money on military. Our military depends on our economy, which the Bush people seem determined to drive into the ground.

Oh, don't get me wrong, the economy may seem to be doing "well" but our country, like many others is sufffering with wider class divisions. The rich in our country are doing well. But if you're poor in the United States, and trying hard not to be, you're poor BY DESIGN. In America, we need to keep people poor, so they'll see military service as a possible way out. We need the poor so that there will be people willing to struggle at low-pay jobs so we can get our burgers, factory-made products, and other services for cheap. Did I just say "factory made products for cheap"? Sounds like China, Southeast Asia, or Central America? That's where we're heading. Meanwhile, the lion's share of your tax dollars and mine are going toward war and military expenditures, and toward benefits to corporations, with the idea that the corporate giveaways will "trickle down" to the workers. Let's play the bullsht card on that right now. Alex, I'll take bullsht economics for 800. Hmmm, I think I'll go with "What new way is the investor class taking advantage of to gain additional assets at the expense of the working poor, the working class AND the middle class AND the upper-middle class?" That's a lot of people.

On top of fucking the poor today, we are fucking almost EVERYONE in future generations. Wait, I'd like to exclude myself from that list. I am not fucking the people in the future, or the poor today. I am with the people trying to get them unfucked. Unless the United States declares bankruptcy, our great grandchildren in America are going to have little tax dollars to put toward anything except to pay off the debts incurred during the Reagan-era deficit spending fiasco. The 80's credit card bill pales in comparison to the absolute free-for-all rate the Bush Administration are borrowing at. The next 12 years, our government is going to have to run on a skeleton budget, and will be unable to provide for the citizen's welfare (I'm no civics genius, but I think providing for citizen welfare is mentioned somewhere in the declaration of independence or the constitution). In addition, there will be very little money for the U.S. governnment to actually govern people, corporations, or itself. OMG, our government needs to govern itself? Yes, it does, and that's why our forefathers designed the government to have three parts, so there'd be checks and balances. Let's review:

Executive Branch = Republicans
Legislative Branch = Republicans
Judicial Branch = Republicans

The checks and balances are gone. Our government now needs outside government. Even the fourth estate, the media, is in Republican hands, now that even PBS is being run by a Kenneth Tomlinson, who has direct connections to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Those who say the media are liberal are liars, and they are simply spinning propaganda. Believe these words, or believe theirs, and you'll know which side you fall on pretty fast.

In any case, I highly doubt that these debts can or will be paid back. Great. How can these goliath-sized problems be rectified or fixed? I think we need to start a new action-oriented thinktank.

Thanks for reading.

Joel

Labels: Capitalism, classism, economics, politics, war and peace