Thursday, May 14, 2009
My Review of MX622AB
The MX622 leather shoe is a versatile trainer for your athletic activities. From working out at the gym to a run around the park, this sporty shoe makes a comfortable choice. The durable leather and breathable mesh upper keep feet cool, while the rubber outsole delivers traction on a variety of ter...
Nice
justanavgjoe Brooklyn, NY 5/14/2009
Sizing: Feels true to size
Width: Feels true to width
Pros: Good Traction, Comfortable
Best Uses: Walking, Pavement
Describe Yourself: Gym Rat
Arch Type: High Arch
I already had a pair of these and bought two more. I use these for everyday wear and they're comfy. I painted the "N" icons white to add a bit a flair to the shoe. Too bad New Balance does not produce them like this out-of-the-box. At least not that I know of with this model. Bottom line, good athletic shoe for daily wear as well as workin' out.
Personalized For Me By Me (FMBM)
: Picture of Product
Personalized For Me By Me (FMBM)
: Picture of Product
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
The Hierarchy Of Needs and Thermo-dynamics
Below are my comments on Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs" model for human fulfillment. According to Maslow's model, humans have five basic needs that can be arranged in a pyramid like fashion. These are: Physiological Needs (at the top), Safety Needs, Needs of Love, Needs for Esteem and, finally, Needs for Self-Actualization (at the bottom). After the top tier need is secured, according to Maslow, we seek in successive order the fulfillement of the rest. Here is what I had to say:
I like the scheme presented here describing and contextualizing the basic human, and I might add, at least with the top tier need for survival, the animal instinct for survival.
I would only extend it further to explicitly take into account the laws of thermodynamics (i.e. matter cannot be created or destroyed, the universe tends toward a state of disorder or entropy). The implications of these Laws for, to use a dated term, mankind hit me a number a years ago.
It seems to me that from law of entropy one can draw a direct line to our present predicament. Because all creatures strive to ensure their survival and that means securing food, shelter and, in the case of our species, clothing, then it follows that the best way to do that from an individual standpoint is to, on one hand over-produce (preferably by exploiting others) so as to never run out and, on the other hand to hoard. This to me is the material basis of greed; The instinctual fear of not having enough and starving.
Moreover, is this not the basic defect of market economies or ooooh Capitalism? The system over-produces, the elite hoard as much of the surplus as they can get away with and the masses are left increasingly gasping. However since it is the masses that produce the surplus, squeezing them ever harder tends to reduce the rate of surplus creation because the masses cannot consume (buy) at the increasing levels necessary to raise the rate of profit. It is in the forms of profits, after all, that the Capitalist elite hoard the surpluses created within the system. Thus new means have to be introduced to keep it all going. This is where debt and financialization come in. Through these techniques or mechanisms the elite can continue their hoarding and the masses can keep up consumption. Except that, as we see today, this is a edifice built on quicksand and will eventually sink into the depths. This is partly because of the exhaustion, in its many forms, of the masses and, of course, resource limits (i. e. Peak Oil, Climate Change, water, soil and air pollution . . . etc.). In sum, while we as species have created these massive economic edifices so that only a few can delusionally believe that through the hoarding of massive wealth they could permanently stave off entropy, in actuality they have succeeded in accelerating the effects of the law of diminishing returns as well as entropy on an individual and planetary scale. This, by a supposedly intelligent species.
I like the scheme presented here describing and contextualizing the basic human, and I might add, at least with the top tier need for survival, the animal instinct for survival.
I would only extend it further to explicitly take into account the laws of thermodynamics (i.e. matter cannot be created or destroyed, the universe tends toward a state of disorder or entropy). The implications of these Laws for, to use a dated term, mankind hit me a number a years ago.
It seems to me that from law of entropy one can draw a direct line to our present predicament. Because all creatures strive to ensure their survival and that means securing food, shelter and, in the case of our species, clothing, then it follows that the best way to do that from an individual standpoint is to, on one hand over-produce (preferably by exploiting others) so as to never run out and, on the other hand to hoard. This to me is the material basis of greed; The instinctual fear of not having enough and starving.
Moreover, is this not the basic defect of market economies or ooooh Capitalism? The system over-produces, the elite hoard as much of the surplus as they can get away with and the masses are left increasingly gasping. However since it is the masses that produce the surplus, squeezing them ever harder tends to reduce the rate of surplus creation because the masses cannot consume (buy) at the increasing levels necessary to raise the rate of profit. It is in the forms of profits, after all, that the Capitalist elite hoard the surpluses created within the system. Thus new means have to be introduced to keep it all going. This is where debt and financialization come in. Through these techniques or mechanisms the elite can continue their hoarding and the masses can keep up consumption. Except that, as we see today, this is a edifice built on quicksand and will eventually sink into the depths. This is partly because of the exhaustion, in its many forms, of the masses and, of course, resource limits (i. e. Peak Oil, Climate Change, water, soil and air pollution . . . etc.). In sum, while we as species have created these massive economic edifices so that only a few can delusionally believe that through the hoarding of massive wealth they could permanently stave off entropy, in actuality they have succeeded in accelerating the effects of the law of diminishing returns as well as entropy on an individual and planetary scale. This, by a supposedly intelligent species.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Stunning Liberty
Below are comments (on an article by Noami Wolf) I posted on the commondreams.org comments section regarding the tasering and arrest of Andrew Meyer after he had attempted to ask 2004 Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry why he allowed his victory to be stolen away by Republican electoral shenanigans. After seeing him in complete non-action while a citizen's right to free speech was stunned out of him, I think we all know the answer.
Yeah this guy just wanted to be “youtube famous.” I guess the same people that are saying this as well as belittling Ms. Wolf want to be “commondreams comments section famous.” If they are not progressive minded, why then not attend to websites that more closely match their points of view? Why, go to websites looking to be offended or looking for opportunities to be hipper-than-thou? Dudes, if this was a prank by the student this means the cops are doubly stupid. First, for showing everybody what brutes they really are and, second, for allowing themselves to be drawn in by this supposed prankster. Any way you slice it, this was an attack on not only this student, but the body politic. If by by body politic we mean the the people and their right to self-rule.
I agree with Ms. Wolf. Like Kent State over 40 years ago, this incident represents a litmus test for the American people. it is either Fight or Flight! From all appearances, the choice, flight, has already been made. Forget about Kerry, he ’s an elite tomato can. Rather than see one of their own dismantled like that, the other students could have all placed themselves between the Gestapo wannabes and the student being attacked. They could have also just surrounded the cops and let them know they will be hurting no one today. I know that is challenging authority. But so was the Declaration of Independence challenging established authority. So was the Civil Rights Movement challenging authority. Authority that has turned tyrannical should and can be challenged. None other than Abraham Lincoln stated that:
“This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.”
and
“The people are the masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it”
How about that radical Thomas Jefferson:
“And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time that his people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms…The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
Whatever their warts these men understood that liberty comes at a price. Often a very steep one. The time, as Ms. Wolf noted, has arrived. Will we as free people individually choose to be the next Crispus Attucks or the next Anne Frank?
Yeah this guy just wanted to be “youtube famous.” I guess the same people that are saying this as well as belittling Ms. Wolf want to be “commondreams comments section famous.” If they are not progressive minded, why then not attend to websites that more closely match their points of view? Why, go to websites looking to be offended or looking for opportunities to be hipper-than-thou? Dudes, if this was a prank by the student this means the cops are doubly stupid. First, for showing everybody what brutes they really are and, second, for allowing themselves to be drawn in by this supposed prankster. Any way you slice it, this was an attack on not only this student, but the body politic. If by by body politic we mean the the people and their right to self-rule.
I agree with Ms. Wolf. Like Kent State over 40 years ago, this incident represents a litmus test for the American people. it is either Fight or Flight! From all appearances, the choice, flight, has already been made. Forget about Kerry, he ’s an elite tomato can. Rather than see one of their own dismantled like that, the other students could have all placed themselves between the Gestapo wannabes and the student being attacked. They could have also just surrounded the cops and let them know they will be hurting no one today. I know that is challenging authority. But so was the Declaration of Independence challenging established authority. So was the Civil Rights Movement challenging authority. Authority that has turned tyrannical should and can be challenged. None other than Abraham Lincoln stated that:
“This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.”
and
“The people are the masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it”
How about that radical Thomas Jefferson:
“And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time that his people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms…The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
Whatever their warts these men understood that liberty comes at a price. Often a very steep one. The time, as Ms. Wolf noted, has arrived. Will we as free people individually choose to be the next Crispus Attucks or the next Anne Frank?
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Reflections On Keith Olbermann And The President Who Cried Wolf
Recently Keith Olbermann of MSNBC’s "Countdown" in his monologue entitled “Bush's Legacy: The President Who Cried Wolf” (found here: http://www.truthout..org/docs_2006/011207A.shtml) weighed in on the course the Administration will follow in pursuit of its aims in the Middle East as laid down by President Bush in a nationally televised address to the country. While Mr. Olbermann’s indignation and incredulity over the path of escalation over diplomacy chosen by the Bush Admistration is certainly deserved, there are some real weaknesses inherent in his line of thinking. We can start with how he seperates the two party duopoly from the course the Admistration has followed since . . . well even before 9/11 and that he gives the mythical American people more credit than they're probably due.
The two party duopoly has supported all that this Administration has done from the start. They are not concerned about the lives of American soldiers, much less the lives of Iraqis. Put simply, both wings of the SINGLE party are committed to the maintainance and expansion of the American Empire. Their concerns are two fold. On one hand, they realize their "Project for a New American Century" has hit a major road block and, on the other hand, are deathly worried about the ramifications domestically and internationally of this massive failure of American Imperialism. As Black Commentator put it a while back; "the pirates are lost at sea and don't know how to find their way back."
I wonder if the war had been a "cake walk,” as originally claimed by the desktop warriors in Washington, The NY Times and The Washington Post, would the American People (meaning mostly white folks of course) have soured on the War? I would surmise, probably not. As Scott Ritter, of UN Weapons Inspector fame, put it: "the American people are not against war, they're against losing." A comment that succinctly captures the White Supremascist mindset not only of the American elite but also a major part of its White subjects who not having quite the same stakes at risk within the Empire will want to cut and run when things do not go smoothly. I think it is this glaring weakness that is at the heart of the tepid and frankly inane so called anti-war movement. A truly principled anti-war movement would be animated by a desire for restitution and justice FOR THE VICTIMS of this war. That the American military is hemorrhaging badly (not a bad thing in my estimation) would be a tertiary rationale not the core motivation. Regardless of failure or success, this war, like the war it is most frequently compared to: Vietnam, would not be any less a "Crime Against The Peace." It was began on the basis of lies and is simply about lucre and power. For this offence against humanity several Nazis were executed or imprisoned for life following their trials at Nuremburg. This is a truism that I think is frequently lost within the debate, centered as it is on American losses, amongst the so called Left in the US.
This brings me back to Mr. Olbermann. As indignant and on point as he sounds, the stance he takes in his commentary ultimately leads to a blind alley. He gives out free passes to some of the Republicans and essentially the entire Democratic Party who, by the way, could stop this war on a dime at this point by withholding funding or initiating impeachement proceedings. The problem is that the Republicans would blanch at such moves and, in any case, the mealy-mouthed Democrats have already made clear neither de-funding of the war nor impeachment is remotely on the table. They're just trying to cover their asses and tamp down dissent on their Left. In addition, Olbermann has nothing to say about the larger socio-economic system (YES, CAPITALISM!) that is at the heart of this resource war as well as many of the coming catastrophes of this 21st century. In the end, Olbermann's protestations, much like FDR's actions during the Great Depression of the thirties, seek more to contain the System's self-destructive tendencies and save it from itself than killing the disease that the System is upon humanity.
The two party duopoly has supported all that this Administration has done from the start. They are not concerned about the lives of American soldiers, much less the lives of Iraqis. Put simply, both wings of the SINGLE party are committed to the maintainance and expansion of the American Empire. Their concerns are two fold. On one hand, they realize their "Project for a New American Century" has hit a major road block and, on the other hand, are deathly worried about the ramifications domestically and internationally of this massive failure of American Imperialism. As Black Commentator put it a while back; "the pirates are lost at sea and don't know how to find their way back."
I wonder if the war had been a "cake walk,” as originally claimed by the desktop warriors in Washington, The NY Times and The Washington Post, would the American People (meaning mostly white folks of course) have soured on the War? I would surmise, probably not. As Scott Ritter, of UN Weapons Inspector fame, put it: "the American people are not against war, they're against losing." A comment that succinctly captures the White Supremascist mindset not only of the American elite but also a major part of its White subjects who not having quite the same stakes at risk within the Empire will want to cut and run when things do not go smoothly. I think it is this glaring weakness that is at the heart of the tepid and frankly inane so called anti-war movement. A truly principled anti-war movement would be animated by a desire for restitution and justice FOR THE VICTIMS of this war. That the American military is hemorrhaging badly (not a bad thing in my estimation) would be a tertiary rationale not the core motivation. Regardless of failure or success, this war, like the war it is most frequently compared to: Vietnam, would not be any less a "Crime Against The Peace." It was began on the basis of lies and is simply about lucre and power. For this offence against humanity several Nazis were executed or imprisoned for life following their trials at Nuremburg. This is a truism that I think is frequently lost within the debate, centered as it is on American losses, amongst the so called Left in the US.
This brings me back to Mr. Olbermann. As indignant and on point as he sounds, the stance he takes in his commentary ultimately leads to a blind alley. He gives out free passes to some of the Republicans and essentially the entire Democratic Party who, by the way, could stop this war on a dime at this point by withholding funding or initiating impeachement proceedings. The problem is that the Republicans would blanch at such moves and, in any case, the mealy-mouthed Democrats have already made clear neither de-funding of the war nor impeachment is remotely on the table. They're just trying to cover their asses and tamp down dissent on their Left. In addition, Olbermann has nothing to say about the larger socio-economic system (YES, CAPITALISM!) that is at the heart of this resource war as well as many of the coming catastrophes of this 21st century. In the end, Olbermann's protestations, much like FDR's actions during the Great Depression of the thirties, seek more to contain the System's self-destructive tendencies and save it from itself than killing the disease that the System is upon humanity.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Letter to Joe Bageant - Liberals And The Anti-War Movement: Enablers For Empire
What’s up Joe! It is your friend from Brooklyn wanting to say hello as well as weigh in on your latest piece. As always, you express your opinions in the most colorful manner. I am glad that in your piece prior to the present one you connected with folks from the other side of town so to speak. My parents are from Dominican Republic and when I was there last summer I witnessed the extreme poverty but also the greater sense of community. I mean people actually visit each other’s homes for no particular reason and social life is not mediated through the mall, the mass media/entertainment complex or cell phones. I tell you every time I see someone with a cell phone or the earpiece to one sticking out of their ear I cannot help but cringing. I’ve always felt that much communication is lost during a phone conversation. You cannot read the other individual’s body language, which in turn impacts, no so positively, tone and delivery. Then, with cell phones, there is the added ingredient of being always within reach but not necessarily in touch. As a result, conversation tends to become staid, banal and just plain mindless. This is why Kurt Nimmo (you’ve probably heard of him, his blog is at http://www.kurtnimmo.com/ ) derisively calls the 40 and under crowd “the cell phone generation.” A group by and large wrapped up in its own self-centeredness and thus unable and unwilling to engage the pressing issues of the day. Even if it’ll ultimately result in great harm befalling them.
Which brings me to your latest piece where you bemoan the state of the nation and its somnambulant inhabitants. I kinda feel that, like me, you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired! Perhaps I mentioned this in one of my earlier messages to you but after the rot (and I don’t mean the actual physical rot but the social rot) that was laid bare by hurricane Katrina, I’ve never felt the same. I just felt this deep despair coupled with rage. Black people were largely abandoned and left to drown. Meanwhile that goddamn witch Barbara Bush looks around the Dante’s inferno that was the New Orleans Superdome at that moment and says:
And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them. (1)
All I could think of was how do White folks continually allow the worst elements from amongst them to rise to the top, or remain there, and lead them. These people are barbarians and represent the most backward sections of humanity. There should have been riots in every major city in this country! Yet, what did we get? Yep you guessed it, hand wringing by the so-called Left and outright hostility or indifference by all these compassionate conservatives (sic) we have around here. More recently, after the suicide of three prisoners in the notorious Guantanamo concentration camp, we get some of these nuggets:
Colleen Graffy (the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy on the BBC’s Newshour):
It does sound like this is part of a strategy—in that they don’t value their own lives, and they certainly don’t value ours; and they use suicide bombings as a tactic. Taking their own lives was not necessary, but it certainly is a good PR move.
Guantánamo base commander Rear Admiral Harry Harris:
I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us.
Wait a minute let me get this straight, three men who were being held incommunicado, subjected to torture both physical and mental for several years and robbed of all hope took their own lives as a PR move or as a way of attacking their captors! Do Americans really buy this bull crap! It is the absolute epitome of hubris, denial and just plain bone-headedness that someone could think the suicide of these desperate men was something other than their choosing the only means of escape they felt left open to them. Any one of us would likely do the same considering the situation.
Like you, I lament the condition of what passes for the Left in this country. This morning I was reading about the eviction of the urban farmers in LA from their land and saying to myself will the people in this country ever learn or will the Barca lounger approach to resistance continue to be the norm. Yeah, we’ll just chain ourselves together, engage in peaceful civil disobedience and have a party while we’re at it. Uh hugh, that’ll stop’em. Here is what Daryl Hannah, speaking on Democracy Now, describes what happened next:
There has been a massive show of force. I can see hundreds of police cars and I can't even tell you how many police and storm trooper outfits. And they're executing an eviction, which is -- seems to be unnecessary. Because there was a deal on the table -- the Annenberg Foundation and the Trust for Public Land had put an offer on the table for Mr. Horowitz. And I don't know why they're wasting taxpayers' money this way. These are families who depend on this food. Literally, they're subsistence farmers.
I see hundreds of police officers. They've got band saws, they've got a teargas canister pointing right at us, a big gun with a teargas thing on it, bolt-cutters, generators, and cables, and climbing people in climbing gear. The officers -- some of them are putting on rubber gloves. I don't know if that's to handle some of the people down below the tree who are in lockdown mode. But hopefully they won't be using chemical weapons. (2)
Later in the program Tezozomoc, the elected representative of the South Central Farmers says:
We basically continue today, we’re going to court. One of the things that will happen is that as usual, Mr. Horowitz's arrogance will probably get him in a lot of trouble. One of the things that he has done is the destruction of personal property. The bulldozing of the plots is -- we are going to go challenge that situation in court today, because that is destruction of personal property. When somebody is evicted, you can't destroy their property. You have to give people an opportunity to take that property with them. Even after the eviction. And that happens – you know, if you're evicted out of an apartment, they can't just destroy your stuff. They tell you, “ok, you have 10 days, and in 10 days you'll have three hours to get everything out of there.” And that's one situation that he obviously has overestimated his authority. (3)
I quoted them at length Joe because both speakers are indicative of what’s wrong with the supposed Left. Hannah can’t understand why they, the powers that be, are doing this and that “hopefully they won’t be using chemical weapons”. Is she really that naïve? They do not give a flying fuck about the little people. The money on the table is not the issue in this particular instance. Whenever they, the peons, even slightly get out of line, we’ll have to show them who’s boss. Just like we did with the Transit workers in NYC. Yeah, and we can *only hope* that the same folks that justify and applaud torture and collective punishment won’t resort to chemical weapons. Hell, let’s take them to court! That’s what we’ll do! Great Plan Edison! Nevermind, that the court system is part and parcel of the system of domination and serves the interests of private power, it’ll be fair and balanced. Sorta like Fox News.
What a crock of shit man. I’ve come to the conclusion that the supposed Left in this country has gotten so fat off the New Deal and the over-arching golden age of capitalism, that they have lost their “cojones.” They seem to have forgotten how power works. It’s like they keep getting their asses kicked and still insist on the same tactics that just failed them. Whenever el Pueblo has won anything in this country fighting the system it has seen blood spilt. That remains true today and will remain forever true as long as class societies exist. Fredrick Douglass once said, “power yields nothing without a demand.” That was his way of saying if you want something you’re gonna hafta kick some ass. The Right clearly understands this and this is why they are consistently against gun laws. Just picture someone like Al Franken or Leslie Cagan on the eve of the American Revolution talking about moderation. Shit if the American patriots didn’t bayonet both of their asses the redcoats surely would have. It is not by accident that our right to bear arms is enshrined in the Constitution. Even the “Founding Fathers,” greedy Mercantalist Capitalists that they were, understood the dangers of a tyrannical government with no hard means of reining it in. At this point reasoning with the system will not work and barely ever did before. Reforms, even if possible, only buys the system time and are short-lived anyhow. Things have gotten way too far out of hand. I have friends who, though meaning well, go to the latest anti-war demo and think they are doing something other than making a meaningless spectacle. Hello! Your puppets, teach-ins, snazzy placards, street theatre and such are being met with rubber bullets, sometimes live ones, mace and batons. Yet, the war went on and goes on. Then again, maybe that is the point. Go out let yourself be fenced into designated free speech zones while “protesting”, call the whole smelly shitty surreal scene a demonstration of popular resistance and then go home and ask “mirror mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?”
I am of the opinion that since the state is consistently pulling a Tiananmen Square on us we are going to have to eventually Iraqify this joint. I just do not see any other way out. Yes, build those grass-root organizations and initiate the movement. However, be ready to fight it out because power will most certainly not be relinquished peaceably. That has never been the M. O. of any ruling class and the American one seems to be particularly nasty and brutish. In the end, those who close off all avenues to peaceful change invite violent change. In the neo-con’s warped version of this adage, they did just that with Iraq and now, even more distinctly, it is happening with Iran. We desperately need a change in course confronted as we are by Peak Oil, global warming, economic meltdown, when the real estate bubble goes POP, and Fascism and its handmaiden military adventurism. For the good of themselves as well as the rest of humanity, U. S. citizens must put on the brake big time on the grasping planetary hegemon that is their country.
In any case, one way or another we will see civil war or revolution here when the contradictions and looming ecological disasters come to a head. In the not so distant future there will be no more big-box stores full of cheap crap from countries paying slave wages. No more, as James Howard Kunstler put it, “easy motoring within this drive-in utopia.” Certainly, there in no room any longer for a set of folks such as American liberals who function as a faux opposition and are movement killers rather than movement makers. Move-on, whom I sorely wish would do just that, comes to mind here. We are essentially at the point now where this regime in particular, but also the system as a whole, gangster-like character has become readily apparent. Trouble looms ahead, from all angles, for the U. S. Capitalist ship of state. They’ve tacitly acknowledged as much by getting Kellogg Brown and Root to build these so-called “detention and processing camps” to supposedly deal with “an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S.” (4) Why, one might be led to ask, would they be expecting such a large movement of people thus ostensibly necessitating these camps and are these camps reserved just for “illegal immigrants?” No, like the Iraqi people we’ll have to fight if we are to rid ourselves of this oppressive system. Otherwise, it will keep trudging along until it self-destructs like the tape recorder in Mission Impossible after being played.
I know you realize all this shit Joe but for one thing, I know you’ll understand what the fuck I mean and for another, I just want to show you the love. Heaven knows, the way things are going, we may find ourselves shoulder to shoulder in one of KBR’s detention centers waiting for the Grand Ole Opera to play our exit tune while munching on Soylent Green. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come down to that and people in this country rise up and throw the bums out if not give’em the Lenin treatment.
Your Brother in Arms,
Johnnie Q
Which brings me to your latest piece where you bemoan the state of the nation and its somnambulant inhabitants. I kinda feel that, like me, you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired! Perhaps I mentioned this in one of my earlier messages to you but after the rot (and I don’t mean the actual physical rot but the social rot) that was laid bare by hurricane Katrina, I’ve never felt the same. I just felt this deep despair coupled with rage. Black people were largely abandoned and left to drown. Meanwhile that goddamn witch Barbara Bush looks around the Dante’s inferno that was the New Orleans Superdome at that moment and says:
And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them. (1)
All I could think of was how do White folks continually allow the worst elements from amongst them to rise to the top, or remain there, and lead them. These people are barbarians and represent the most backward sections of humanity. There should have been riots in every major city in this country! Yet, what did we get? Yep you guessed it, hand wringing by the so-called Left and outright hostility or indifference by all these compassionate conservatives (sic) we have around here. More recently, after the suicide of three prisoners in the notorious Guantanamo concentration camp, we get some of these nuggets:
Colleen Graffy (the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy on the BBC’s Newshour):
It does sound like this is part of a strategy—in that they don’t value their own lives, and they certainly don’t value ours; and they use suicide bombings as a tactic. Taking their own lives was not necessary, but it certainly is a good PR move.
Guantánamo base commander Rear Admiral Harry Harris:
I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us.
Wait a minute let me get this straight, three men who were being held incommunicado, subjected to torture both physical and mental for several years and robbed of all hope took their own lives as a PR move or as a way of attacking their captors! Do Americans really buy this bull crap! It is the absolute epitome of hubris, denial and just plain bone-headedness that someone could think the suicide of these desperate men was something other than their choosing the only means of escape they felt left open to them. Any one of us would likely do the same considering the situation.
Like you, I lament the condition of what passes for the Left in this country. This morning I was reading about the eviction of the urban farmers in LA from their land and saying to myself will the people in this country ever learn or will the Barca lounger approach to resistance continue to be the norm. Yeah, we’ll just chain ourselves together, engage in peaceful civil disobedience and have a party while we’re at it. Uh hugh, that’ll stop’em. Here is what Daryl Hannah, speaking on Democracy Now, describes what happened next:
There has been a massive show of force. I can see hundreds of police cars and I can't even tell you how many police and storm trooper outfits. And they're executing an eviction, which is -- seems to be unnecessary. Because there was a deal on the table -- the Annenberg Foundation and the Trust for Public Land had put an offer on the table for Mr. Horowitz. And I don't know why they're wasting taxpayers' money this way. These are families who depend on this food. Literally, they're subsistence farmers.
I see hundreds of police officers. They've got band saws, they've got a teargas canister pointing right at us, a big gun with a teargas thing on it, bolt-cutters, generators, and cables, and climbing people in climbing gear. The officers -- some of them are putting on rubber gloves. I don't know if that's to handle some of the people down below the tree who are in lockdown mode. But hopefully they won't be using chemical weapons. (2)
Later in the program Tezozomoc, the elected representative of the South Central Farmers says:
We basically continue today, we’re going to court. One of the things that will happen is that as usual, Mr. Horowitz's arrogance will probably get him in a lot of trouble. One of the things that he has done is the destruction of personal property. The bulldozing of the plots is -- we are going to go challenge that situation in court today, because that is destruction of personal property. When somebody is evicted, you can't destroy their property. You have to give people an opportunity to take that property with them. Even after the eviction. And that happens – you know, if you're evicted out of an apartment, they can't just destroy your stuff. They tell you, “ok, you have 10 days, and in 10 days you'll have three hours to get everything out of there.” And that's one situation that he obviously has overestimated his authority. (3)
I quoted them at length Joe because both speakers are indicative of what’s wrong with the supposed Left. Hannah can’t understand why they, the powers that be, are doing this and that “hopefully they won’t be using chemical weapons”. Is she really that naïve? They do not give a flying fuck about the little people. The money on the table is not the issue in this particular instance. Whenever they, the peons, even slightly get out of line, we’ll have to show them who’s boss. Just like we did with the Transit workers in NYC. Yeah, and we can *only hope* that the same folks that justify and applaud torture and collective punishment won’t resort to chemical weapons. Hell, let’s take them to court! That’s what we’ll do! Great Plan Edison! Nevermind, that the court system is part and parcel of the system of domination and serves the interests of private power, it’ll be fair and balanced. Sorta like Fox News.
What a crock of shit man. I’ve come to the conclusion that the supposed Left in this country has gotten so fat off the New Deal and the over-arching golden age of capitalism, that they have lost their “cojones.” They seem to have forgotten how power works. It’s like they keep getting their asses kicked and still insist on the same tactics that just failed them. Whenever el Pueblo has won anything in this country fighting the system it has seen blood spilt. That remains true today and will remain forever true as long as class societies exist. Fredrick Douglass once said, “power yields nothing without a demand.” That was his way of saying if you want something you’re gonna hafta kick some ass. The Right clearly understands this and this is why they are consistently against gun laws. Just picture someone like Al Franken or Leslie Cagan on the eve of the American Revolution talking about moderation. Shit if the American patriots didn’t bayonet both of their asses the redcoats surely would have. It is not by accident that our right to bear arms is enshrined in the Constitution. Even the “Founding Fathers,” greedy Mercantalist Capitalists that they were, understood the dangers of a tyrannical government with no hard means of reining it in. At this point reasoning with the system will not work and barely ever did before. Reforms, even if possible, only buys the system time and are short-lived anyhow. Things have gotten way too far out of hand. I have friends who, though meaning well, go to the latest anti-war demo and think they are doing something other than making a meaningless spectacle. Hello! Your puppets, teach-ins, snazzy placards, street theatre and such are being met with rubber bullets, sometimes live ones, mace and batons. Yet, the war went on and goes on. Then again, maybe that is the point. Go out let yourself be fenced into designated free speech zones while “protesting”, call the whole smelly shitty surreal scene a demonstration of popular resistance and then go home and ask “mirror mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?”
I am of the opinion that since the state is consistently pulling a Tiananmen Square on us we are going to have to eventually Iraqify this joint. I just do not see any other way out. Yes, build those grass-root organizations and initiate the movement. However, be ready to fight it out because power will most certainly not be relinquished peaceably. That has never been the M. O. of any ruling class and the American one seems to be particularly nasty and brutish. In the end, those who close off all avenues to peaceful change invite violent change. In the neo-con’s warped version of this adage, they did just that with Iraq and now, even more distinctly, it is happening with Iran. We desperately need a change in course confronted as we are by Peak Oil, global warming, economic meltdown, when the real estate bubble goes POP, and Fascism and its handmaiden military adventurism. For the good of themselves as well as the rest of humanity, U. S. citizens must put on the brake big time on the grasping planetary hegemon that is their country.
In any case, one way or another we will see civil war or revolution here when the contradictions and looming ecological disasters come to a head. In the not so distant future there will be no more big-box stores full of cheap crap from countries paying slave wages. No more, as James Howard Kunstler put it, “easy motoring within this drive-in utopia.” Certainly, there in no room any longer for a set of folks such as American liberals who function as a faux opposition and are movement killers rather than movement makers. Move-on, whom I sorely wish would do just that, comes to mind here. We are essentially at the point now where this regime in particular, but also the system as a whole, gangster-like character has become readily apparent. Trouble looms ahead, from all angles, for the U. S. Capitalist ship of state. They’ve tacitly acknowledged as much by getting Kellogg Brown and Root to build these so-called “detention and processing camps” to supposedly deal with “an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S.” (4) Why, one might be led to ask, would they be expecting such a large movement of people thus ostensibly necessitating these camps and are these camps reserved just for “illegal immigrants?” No, like the Iraqi people we’ll have to fight if we are to rid ourselves of this oppressive system. Otherwise, it will keep trudging along until it self-destructs like the tape recorder in Mission Impossible after being played.
I know you realize all this shit Joe but for one thing, I know you’ll understand what the fuck I mean and for another, I just want to show you the love. Heaven knows, the way things are going, we may find ourselves shoulder to shoulder in one of KBR’s detention centers waiting for the Grand Ole Opera to play our exit tune while munching on Soylent Green. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come down to that and people in this country rise up and throw the bums out if not give’em the Lenin treatment.
Your Brother in Arms,
Johnnie Q
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Letter to Joshua Frank
Below is a letter written to Joshua Frank in response to his article entitled " It's 2004 All Over Again . . . " Nothing that I have seen in the days following the elections, including Rumsfeld's resignation, has changed my mind about the socio-political situation in the country and what will have to happen for progressive change to happen here. Considering how prolific a writer Mr. frank has been, I thought I would get a more sanguine response other than a message thanking me for writing. My guess is that although Mr. Frank clearly knows what is up with the two party duopoly, he still cannot quite bring himself to see what the utlimate implications are. As I've mentioned before in previous blog entries, the crisis within global Capitalism in general, and American Capitalism in particular, will utlimately lead to an explosion. In the next few months to a year the Democrats will be exposed for what they are; the ruling class's B-Team. As such, they will simply deal with aesthetics rather than a real change in course whether it has to do with Iraq or the ongoing economic race to the bottom U. S. workers are in the thick of. Eventually, we'll see either civil war or revolution in the streets in this United States of America.
Dear Mr. Frank,
I just finished reading your article on the DV website and I could not agree with you more. I have been reading your pieces for some time now and I think with this piece in particular you really hit the nail right on the head when you accuse the Liberal intelligencia of covering their corporate subsidized asses rather than call a spade a spade. I have long since (from the beginning of the Clinton years at the latest) gotten wise to the game of the Democratic Party. Its role, much like that of what in the electrical business we call an "explosion proof fitting" which dampens electrical sparks in volatile conditions (such as in an auto body shop), is to dampen and derail movements from below. Otherwise, revolutionary sparks could lead to an explosive revolution and the overturning of the now clearly obvious rot at the center of the Capitalist system. The system will not make it out of the 21st century. The question is will humanity not make it out with it. Things do not look to peachy as it stands now.
I would add that I think part of the problem with liberals, in addition to what you mentioned in your article, is that deep down they understand that at this point, real change in this country which assuredly means overthrowing the rule of Capital is likely, ala Mao, only going to come from the barrel of a gun. For obvious reasons, this is something they fear and I fear also because of the likely enormous bloodshed. However, paraphrasing what someone once said, if you close all avenues to peaceful change, then all that remains are violent ones. Again, Please do not read me wrong, I am not so much advocating change through violent means as I simply recognize we've been hemmed in really good. Now we'll have to fight and essentially Iraqify this place if we and likely the rest of humanity hope to see the other side of the 21st century. I believe the 60's were probably the last chance in this country to change things relatively peacefully. Things have gone way too far down that slippery slope at this point and the ruling class understands that. This is why it has braced itself for the violent upheavals that will inevitably come (perhaps afer the "pop" in the real estate bubble) by putting the finishing touches on the fascist/police state.
As a person of color I, as well as other people of color, have never really been allowed a permanent seat at te table of American prosperity. What Katrina exposed, other than the apparently worsening effects of global warming, was this very fact. This is why it did not surprise me in the least when in numerous newscasts, black folks were referred to as "refugees." From the very founding of this country when African slaves were calculated to represent 2/3 persons, there has been an unspoken but evident truth within the mainstream that we are not Americans; we are a people without a country. Thus, abandoning us to the whims of the fates, to borrow a bit from Greek mythology, came easy to the rulers, who may have also seen it as a convenient backdoor pogrom much like, I suspect, many white folks. I speak of all of this only as way of explaining my next point. That is, people of color in this country, and studies have bore this out, in general have not seen this country as the shiny city on a hill; a beacon to the world. We never could afford to. This why people of color in this country have always been in the thick of progressive change and why by and large, except for some sellouts (think Condosleeza and Colin cancer here) never bought into the bit about spreading democracy or eliminating WMDs. We saw it as the Willie Hortinization of a whole country!
All I can say is keep on hitting the Fat Democats. If by some miracle a third party presidential candidate could get past the grossly unfair ballot placement laws, raise enough bread, survive the Diebold voting machines, stave off capital flight, a military coup or an assassination attempt, this country might have chance.
Peace, Q
Dear Mr. Frank,
I just finished reading your article on the DV website and I could not agree with you more. I have been reading your pieces for some time now and I think with this piece in particular you really hit the nail right on the head when you accuse the Liberal intelligencia of covering their corporate subsidized asses rather than call a spade a spade. I have long since (from the beginning of the Clinton years at the latest) gotten wise to the game of the Democratic Party. Its role, much like that of what in the electrical business we call an "explosion proof fitting" which dampens electrical sparks in volatile conditions (such as in an auto body shop), is to dampen and derail movements from below. Otherwise, revolutionary sparks could lead to an explosive revolution and the overturning of the now clearly obvious rot at the center of the Capitalist system. The system will not make it out of the 21st century. The question is will humanity not make it out with it. Things do not look to peachy as it stands now.
I would add that I think part of the problem with liberals, in addition to what you mentioned in your article, is that deep down they understand that at this point, real change in this country which assuredly means overthrowing the rule of Capital is likely, ala Mao, only going to come from the barrel of a gun. For obvious reasons, this is something they fear and I fear also because of the likely enormous bloodshed. However, paraphrasing what someone once said, if you close all avenues to peaceful change, then all that remains are violent ones. Again, Please do not read me wrong, I am not so much advocating change through violent means as I simply recognize we've been hemmed in really good. Now we'll have to fight and essentially Iraqify this place if we and likely the rest of humanity hope to see the other side of the 21st century. I believe the 60's were probably the last chance in this country to change things relatively peacefully. Things have gone way too far down that slippery slope at this point and the ruling class understands that. This is why it has braced itself for the violent upheavals that will inevitably come (perhaps afer the "pop" in the real estate bubble) by putting the finishing touches on the fascist/police state.
As a person of color I, as well as other people of color, have never really been allowed a permanent seat at te table of American prosperity. What Katrina exposed, other than the apparently worsening effects of global warming, was this very fact. This is why it did not surprise me in the least when in numerous newscasts, black folks were referred to as "refugees." From the very founding of this country when African slaves were calculated to represent 2/3 persons, there has been an unspoken but evident truth within the mainstream that we are not Americans; we are a people without a country. Thus, abandoning us to the whims of the fates, to borrow a bit from Greek mythology, came easy to the rulers, who may have also seen it as a convenient backdoor pogrom much like, I suspect, many white folks. I speak of all of this only as way of explaining my next point. That is, people of color in this country, and studies have bore this out, in general have not seen this country as the shiny city on a hill; a beacon to the world. We never could afford to. This why people of color in this country have always been in the thick of progressive change and why by and large, except for some sellouts (think Condosleeza and Colin cancer here) never bought into the bit about spreading democracy or eliminating WMDs. We saw it as the Willie Hortinization of a whole country!
All I can say is keep on hitting the Fat Democats. If by some miracle a third party presidential candidate could get past the grossly unfair ballot placement laws, raise enough bread, survive the Diebold voting machines, stave off capital flight, a military coup or an assassination attempt, this country might have chance.
Peace, Q
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Demanding Democracy
Below is a letter written to the mayors of Champaign and Urbana, Illinoise. Both of these officials have decided that efforts of the Socialist Equality Party to get candidate Joe Parnarauskis on the ballot, through the collection of signitures on a petition, can be restricted by Champaign Public Library administrators who maintain this activity cannot occur on a public sidewalk in front of the library. Nevermind that the gathering of signitures is required by law for anyone seeking to be placed on the ballot in elections in that state and that such activity is constitutionally protected as free speech. It is quite ironic, as I also note in the letter, that while U. S. soldiers are fighting and dying abroad to bring democracy to the Middle East, here at home it is democracy that is fighting to live.
Dear Mayors Schweighart and Prussing,
For the past few weeks I have been monitoring the situation in your respective cities concerning the signature gathering process by the Socialist Equality Party in its efforts to be placed on the ballot. As a person of color it pains me very much to see that 50 years after the Civil Rights Movement, we are still seeing citizens right to choose restricted or even denied. As you surely realize, more than just fighting for the rights of people of color, one of the fundamental points of the Civil Rights Movement was the demand that all citizens be accorded the same rights. By unconstitutionally hindering the efforts of the SEP to collect the required signatures its candidate, Joe Parnarauskis, needs to be placed on the ballot, you are denying Mr. Parnarauskis’s right under the banner of the SEP to present himself as a candidate and the people’s right to vote for him, or, not to vote for him.
I find it quite curious that the leadership of this country continuously trumpets its commitment to democracy and even goes so far as launching wars in an effort to spread it yet, in the recent past there has arisen, to put it mildly, questionable circumstances surrounding elections in this country. The Florida recount fiasco in 2000 and the murky situation in Ohio in 2004 immediately come to mind here. The elections in your cities cannot be allowed to become another example of faulty democracy here at home. Because of the rationale, based supposedly on spreading “freedom and democracy,” now used to justify our country’s wars abroad, the whole world is watching to see if rhetoric matches reality.
Finally, if hypothetically speaking, assuming Mr. Parnarauskis gets on the ballot and he were to win the election, this would mean that had he not been allowed to run because of fundamentally illegal or unconstitutional actions by authorities such as yourselves, a sizeable portion of your respective counties citizens, who would have voted for him, would be denied representation. This would thus amount to taxation without representation and we all know what happened last time there was taxation without representation in this country.
As a concerned citizen, I therefore demand that both of you as elected representatives allow the democratic process to play itself out. It is not only constitutional, legal or rational to do so, but it is the right thing to do.
Sincerely,
Johnnie Quezada
Brooklyn, New York
June 24, 2006
Dear Mayors Schweighart and Prussing,
For the past few weeks I have been monitoring the situation in your respective cities concerning the signature gathering process by the Socialist Equality Party in its efforts to be placed on the ballot. As a person of color it pains me very much to see that 50 years after the Civil Rights Movement, we are still seeing citizens right to choose restricted or even denied. As you surely realize, more than just fighting for the rights of people of color, one of the fundamental points of the Civil Rights Movement was the demand that all citizens be accorded the same rights. By unconstitutionally hindering the efforts of the SEP to collect the required signatures its candidate, Joe Parnarauskis, needs to be placed on the ballot, you are denying Mr. Parnarauskis’s right under the banner of the SEP to present himself as a candidate and the people’s right to vote for him, or, not to vote for him.
I find it quite curious that the leadership of this country continuously trumpets its commitment to democracy and even goes so far as launching wars in an effort to spread it yet, in the recent past there has arisen, to put it mildly, questionable circumstances surrounding elections in this country. The Florida recount fiasco in 2000 and the murky situation in Ohio in 2004 immediately come to mind here. The elections in your cities cannot be allowed to become another example of faulty democracy here at home. Because of the rationale, based supposedly on spreading “freedom and democracy,” now used to justify our country’s wars abroad, the whole world is watching to see if rhetoric matches reality.
Finally, if hypothetically speaking, assuming Mr. Parnarauskis gets on the ballot and he were to win the election, this would mean that had he not been allowed to run because of fundamentally illegal or unconstitutional actions by authorities such as yourselves, a sizeable portion of your respective counties citizens, who would have voted for him, would be denied representation. This would thus amount to taxation without representation and we all know what happened last time there was taxation without representation in this country.
As a concerned citizen, I therefore demand that both of you as elected representatives allow the democratic process to play itself out. It is not only constitutional, legal or rational to do so, but it is the right thing to do.
Sincerely,
Johnnie Quezada
Brooklyn, New York
June 24, 2006
