It was a matter of proportion.  He was arguing that a blue-collar laborer should be making more since he's busting his ass, providing a useful service, and probably doing it for a nobler purpose.  Conversely, the entertainer is a millionaire only because of the whim of some fans, and doesn't really work hard comparatively.  It wasn't fair, he said, that people make so much money for frivolous reasons.

I shocked him by disagreeing.  I told him that I think that rich actors and rock stars earn every penny of their money. (How they might squander it later on is a separate issue).  I told him that I don't think a man's sweat and physical toil are the measure of what he earns.

Predictably, of course, he accused me of being a "rich white kid."  Though it's irrelevant to the point, I had to dispel that assumption by telling him that I grew up in trailer parks and low-income housing with a single parent, eating hot dogs and Hamburger Helper.  When I turned fourteen and got a job, I was never given a single thing again; not even clothes or school supplies.

People who think like this guy are always certain that some should be "earning" more money, and some are "making" more money than they're earning.  But they're not talking about what is earned here - they're talking about what they think these people deserve.  They're basing their opinion about what a person earns on how much they need.  A blue-collar laborer has a family to feed and barely makes ends meet - he might not even be able to pay for his kids to go to college.  Therefore, he should be earning more.

I was called callous and heartless when I told him that "deserve" is not the same thing as "earn."

What you "earn" is simply this: the amount of money people are willing to pay for your good or service.  That's it.  That's the only rational way to determine it.  How else can the amount someone has earned be measured objectively?  You may think a blue-collar laborer deserves more for his service (and maybe he does), but stop and think for one moment what it would mean to legislate it:  It means you would have to force someone else to pay more for that service than they are otherwise willing to pay.  How is that fair?

What do you think would happen if people were awarded money based on what they need, rather than what they earn?  It's called communism, and it's horrible not simply because it's a bogeyman word, but because it doesn't work.  No one would have any reason to produce any good, provide any service, or work at all.  Think about it:  The harder you work, the more that's taken away from you and given to others.  You are punished for achieving, and rewarded when you do nothing.  Guess which one people choose.

How much a person needs is not an indicator of how much they've earned.  This does not in any way suggest that we should ignore those in need.   It does, however, suggest that we should not take from those who earn - even if it's to give to those who need.

Helping build houses I could never afford to buy.

Harvesting food that stocked grocery store shelves, part of an age of specialization.  Efforts that allowed others to specialize in their areas that provided THEM with health benefits, fine salaries, etc. that were not available to us in the fields feeding the masses.

Semi-truck driving was arduous and, at times, dangerous. Moving the goods that fed and clothed folks; allowing a modern industrial society to function.

In Phoenix, with an ambient air temperature of 110 degrees it was 130 and more inside that semi-trailer while unloading boxes of breakfast cereal for 4-6 hours per visit. Rough work that paid little.

So, from my point-of-view and for others within my socio-economic group, it is difficult to feel much empathy for those who could afford that which was always beyond our reach.

So, prices for some things are dropping? Tough. I have been told numerous time that those unseen "market forces" dictated the typical low wages of my class of folks.

So, when those forces negatively impact the "better class" it is now a "tragedy"? Hah!!!!

For years the influx of illegal aliens has harmed me personally along with my brethren. As with wages... I experienced little empathy from those higher up the socio-economic pyramid.

Get a degree, improve yourself, leave those scummy trashy working-poor scum behind.

Oh goody, join the class that is accepting of an underclass to serve them. I did get an education. Combined with street smarts. So, maybe my lack of economic and social advancement is entirely my fault. Should I crawl off and die? Just accept my meager lot in society and serve my masters?

Let the economy fall. Let's see those "better" than me sleeping in their cars, competing with millions of illegals for jobs and affordable housing. Let my "superiors” do without health insurance and experience what it’s like trying to save up capital only to see it washed away by one medical bill.

Let the “better class” experience the true joy of discovering the county hospital accepts payments for medical care interest-free—a true economic life-saver dampened by the knowledge that the bill is greatly inflated to pay for the illegal’s care whose payment is evaded by the use of phony and stolen identification. It’s hard to track down people you can not identify or locate. It is next-to-impossible to save when the next 17 months sees your discretionary income disappearing down the medical bill hole. Then the car repair bill hits, then the rent goes up again as the illegals continue to flood into your town.

Yeah, let the economy fall. Akin to water seeking its own level, shove those folks down into the ranks of the working-poor.

Let some citizens realize that there are forces beyond the common folk’s control.

There are many viewpoints in life. For too long too many Americans have, in my opinion, been living the good life while standing upon the backs of an underclass.

Worst of all, with good examples provided by spewing politicians sternly informing the lower classes to “save for retirement” (save what?) and the constant tirade by those such as Rush Limbaugh, who continuously verbally spits upon the people whose efforts allow the elite class shill to amass great wealth while others provide his wants and needs, America’s working-poor have been marginalized, shoved aside in so many ways, their efforts unappreciated.

BAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let the economy fall. Let social turmoil commence. Bring in another 30 million illegals and let them spread across the country so that all the new underclass citizen entrants can revel in what the existing underclass has undergone in so many areas.

I will remain saddened that the truly wealthy, those not walking an economic tightrope, the elite class and their especially well-paid minions and lackeys, will escape the fall into the economic quagmire that can render one a mere bug floating down an economic river, tossed and turned by every current and eddy, frantically struggling helplessly, with no control, until the waters suck you down and wring the life (or soul) from you.

Experience it, Americans.

Feel what it is like to be spat upon.

Until you do, I believe few Americans possess the empathy to understand what life is like at the bottom of the pile.

"America's new million record watch list is a perfect symbol for what's wrong with this administration's approach to security: it's unfair, out-of-control, a waste of resources, treats the rights of the innocent as an afterthought, and is a very real impediment in the lives of millions of travelers in this country," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU Technology and Liberty Program. "It must be fixed without delay." "Putting a million names on a watch list is a guarantee that the list will do more harm than good by interfering with the travel of innocent people and wasting huge amounts of our limited security resources on bureaucratic wheel-spinning," said Steinhardt. "I doubt this thing would even be effective at catching a real terrorist."

Controls on the watch lists called for by the ACLU included:

* due process
* a right to access and challenge data upon which listing is based
* tight criteria for adding names to the lists
* rigorous procedures for updating and cleansing names from the lists.

Ahh, but that's the point, the idea is to watch possible protesters against government policies, especially people of the clergy and political opponents!

US Terrorist Watch List now has more than 1,000,000 names

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

I had to jettison any religious notions I had to really understand this, and to begin to know myself. For our natural higher consciousness, if you like, our connectedness to the universe and to all things and all truth, somehow gets surgically removed from us in the course of growing up in this culture, and something else gets implanted within us: a barrier of some kind that keeps our true selves imprisoned, and our vital spirit contained and siphoned off somehow into a machine entity that controls our minds and lives. We are not ourselves anymore. And formal religion - the system that makes us believe that deity and truth lie outside us rather than within us - is a key part of that machine-master that makes us enslaved.

Intuitively, I knew all of this in a flash one evening by the river. Our slavery became apparent to me as a fact, not simply as a horrible notion.

About that same time, not coincidentally, and as an answer to my sudden inner question - "How then can we be made free?" - a woman named Lorisa contacted me out of the blue and said she needed to speak with me.

As it turned out, Lorisa was a psychic healer - that's the colloquial name I'll use for that which can't and shouldn't have a label - and she had been given a message to contact me and offer her immediate help and protection.

"From what?" I asked her, as we sat in her plush Vancouver home.

"From who, really" she replied. "I can't name them. It's too dangerous. But you are in great danger from forces that have been trying to destroy you for years now, ever since you began talking about those children who died in the Indian boarding schools."

Skeptical by nature, I was about to ask how she knew that, when she began to provide me with all sorts of personal information and incidents about my life and family that no-one could have known.

My back and arms began to acquire the proverbial goosebumps. Lorisa continued.

"I dreamt about you and then began working with my team, channeling light towards you from the higher Chamber of Souls. I saw a lot. Are you ready for this?"

I nodded.

This is from the journal of one Kevin Annett, a defrocked Canadian United Church minister who investigated the genocide of aboriginal children in 1997. Apparently he made some powerful people angry and he's been on the run since. This tale includes psychics, psychic weapons and not so nice NWO death squads according to the Rev. Annett. Fascinating tale.

Psychic Forces at Work?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

"If there has been a single theme running through this column it is that mega- or meta-conspiracy theories – of the it’s-all-the-fault-of-the-Jews-Masons-aliens-lizards kind – are a distraction from real conspiracies. Sometimes, though, these two fields threaten to overlap – for example with bankers. Now, this makes many respectable commentators nervous lest it should be thought they are interested in banking conspiracy theories – which sound, of course, rather similar to Jewish banking conspiracy theor­ies, that deathless staple of the far Right.":

But so obvious have been the conspiracies in the sub-prime lending fiasco in America that I think I detect a certain diminution of the hostility towards the use of the ‘c’ word among our polit­ical-media gatekeepers. This may not be entirely unconnected to the fact that the value of their houses is going to fall as a direct result of the conspiracies by some US banks to sell mortgages to poor Americans who could not afford them (what the American legal system nicely calls ‘predatory lending’), followed by the selling of dodgy bonds and securities based on said dodgy mortgages. This set of linked banking conspiracies may be the biggest set of financial frauds ever perpetrated.

This article attempts to take the NWO, Illuminati and all other supreme elitist groups out of the collapsing world economy, except for the banksters.

I guess if you wanted to prove your case in a court of law like Daniel Estulin postulates, this would be the way to go, but just because you can't see what's causing the shadow, doesn't mean it's not there.

US Banking Conspiracies

The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America.

With a continued slide into a pervasive distrust and cynicism toward our political and social institutions, anyone with a powerful vision and message of hope will find willing followers and disciples. I think that is why Barak Obama's message of change and hope is playing quite well. Nevertheless, history is not silent under such circumstances and related political and social environments. There is an environment that nurtures less than civil behavior, and I'm not so sure we can totally assume the government can continue its policy of Bread and Circus forever. "Bread and Circus" is the policy of governments, institutions and businesses, and individual politicians to provide just enough food and fun to placate the masses. Personal freedom is typically the greatest cost to the individual. If the tipping point is reached where the government can't manage fear, and I don't know where exactly that is, civility will take a backseat not only to provocative speech, but barbaric behavior as well. Thousands of years of history serves notice.

Today is Bastille Day. Bastille Day has such a strong signification for the French because the holiday symbolizes the birth of the Republic. The French celebrate a new republic controlled by the people, not a monarchy or church. As in the United States, where the signing of the Declaration of Independence signaled the start of the American Revolution, in France the storming of the Bastille began the Great Revolution. In both countries, the national holiday thus symbolizes the beginning of a new form of government.

Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité!

Those are the words that mark the ideals of the French revolution. To better tell the story I'm providing an entry from StudyWorld that I think sums it up nicely. Also, check out the related articles at the end of the piece.

What were the causes and the effects of the French Revolution? The major cause of the French Revolution was the disputes between the different types of social classes in French society. The French Revolution of 1789-1799 was one of the most important events in the history of the world. The Revolution led to many changes in France, which at the time of the Revolution, was the most powerful state in Europe. The Revolution led to the development of new political forces such as democracy and nationalism. It questioned the authority of kings, priests, and nobles. The Revolution also gave new meanings and new ideas to the political ideas of the people.

The French Revolution was spread over the ten year period between 1789 and 1799. The primary cause of the revolution was the disputes over the peoples' differing ideas of reform. Before the beginning of the Revolution, only moderate reforms were wanted by the people. An example of why they wanted this was because of king Louis XIV's actions. At the end of the seventeenth century, King Louis XIV's wars began decreasing the royal finances dramatically. This worsened during the eighteenth century. The use of the money by Louis XIV angered the people and they wanted a new system of government. The writings of the philosophes such as Voltaire and Diderot, were critical of the government. They said that not one official in power was corrupt, but that the whole system of government needed some change. Eventually, when the royal finances were expended in the 1780's, there began a time of greater criticism. This sparked the peasants notion of wanting change.

Under the Old Regime in France, the king was the absolute monarch. Louis XIV had centralized power in the royal bureaucracy, the government departments which administered his policies. Together, Louis XIV and the bureaucracy worked to preserve royal authority and to maintain the social structure of the Old Regime.

At this time in French history, the social classes played an important role in the lives of the people. The social structure of France was divided among three groups: the First Estate, the Second Estate, and the Third Estate. Each social group had a varied type of people within their structure, which presented the different views of the people.

The First Estate was the Church. During the ancien regime, the church was equal in terms of its social, economic, and spiritual power. The First Estate owned nearly 10 per cent of all land in France. It paid no taxes but, to support church activities such as school running and caring for the poor, they collected a tithe, or a tax on income. About one-third of the entire clergy in France served as parish priests. Also included in this estate were the nobles. Some of the nobles lived in luxury in major cities in France, such as Versailles or Paris. Parish priests usually lived a hardworking life. This Estate was the minority of the people in France, having approximately 1 to 2 per cent of the population.

The Second Estate in French life was the nobility. They enjoyed extensive rights and privileges. They made up less than 2 percent of the population. They, like the First Estate, paid hardly any taxes. Economically, the nobility was characterized by great land wealth. Nobles were generally the richest members of the society. Typical sources of income were rents and dues for the use of their farms or estates. The First and Second Estates were grouped together because they had similar political beliefs. The

Third Estate consisted of the commoners. It includedthe bourgeoisie, peasants and city workers. The bourgeoisie, or the middle class, were by far, the wealthiest. In the bourgeoisie, there were the merchants and manufacturers, lawyers, doctors and others similar to those types of professions. Peasants made up the largest group within the Third Estate. They were forced to pay hefty taxes, tithes to the church, and rents to their landlords for the land that they lived on. The last group within the Third Estate were the city workers. They were servants, apprentices, and household maids.

The major cause of the Revolution were the differences these three groups had. However, there was another important factor during these times. France suffered from harsh economic problems. Poor farm harvests by farmers hurt the economy, and trade rules from the Middle Ages still survived, making trade difficult. However, the most serious problem was the problem facing the government during this time. The French government borrowed much money to pay for the wars of Louis XIV. Louis still borrowed money to fight wars and to keep French power alive in Europe. These costs greatly increased the national debt, which was, at the time, already too high.

When King Louis XVI came into power, he realized that these problems existed. At first he did not know what to do, until he found a man by the name of Robert Turgot. He eased the financial crisis of France, but he had difficulties when he tried to introduce a major reform, that of taxing the nobles. He had such difficulties because the king could not tax the nobles unless the Parliament approved of the new tax laws. The people in the courts that voted on these laws were the nobles, called nobles of the robe, and therefore rejected Turgot's reform. After Turgot was rejected, the king fired him from his office. This led Louis XVI to summon the Estates General in 1789.

The Estates General was the place where representatives from each social class could be represented. Here, many issues would be discussed, and at this time in French history, it would be centered around the economic crisis.

When the Estates General met in 1789, the deputies, or representatives, from the Third Estate demanded that the three estates meet together, with each deputy having an equal vote. That way, the First and Second Estates could outvote the Third Estate. When the king heard of this, he demanded that the three estates meet separately. This caused anger within the Third Estate. The deputies from the Third Estate declared themselves the National Assembly. Louis XVI quickly rejected these deputies from the meeting hall. After a while, Louis XVI decided that it would be best if the three estates met together. He ordered the other two estates to join the Third Estate in the National Assembly.

Although now the three estates met together, there were divisions among them. Some wanted to protect their rights, while others wanted to establish a limited, constitutional monarchy. This sparked some change in the French people.

Immediately after the National Assembly secretly began working on a constitution, the peasants and workers expected relief from taxes and other dues that they paid. Little happened, and they still faced their same problems of unemployment and inflation. Then there were reports that Louis XVI was bringing troops to Paris. This increased the peoples' fears.

When Louis brought troops to Versailles, many citizens feared that he wanted to get rid of the National Assembly. As a result, they stormed the Bastille. Other disturbances also broke out. People were caught up in what was called the "Great Fear". Rumors passed from village to village that robbers were destroying homes all over France. When no robbers showed up, the peasants turned to their landlords. They destroyed grain towers, and destroyed tax records, showing that they will never pay any taxes, fines or dues ever again.

These events forced Louis to summon the National Assembly on August 4th. They people discussed possible reforms. On this day, the National Assembly ended serfdom.Towards the end of August, the National Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man. It stated that democratic principles would be the basis for French government. The job of turning these ideas into a constitution still remained.

While the constitution was in the process of being made, an angry crowd in Paris rioted, forcing the National Assembly to recognize their demands. Some of these rioters were women. They were angry about food prices. They also thought that the king and queen were going against the National Assembly. They demanded that Louis return to Paris where they could watch him. To prevent any further uprisings, he agreed.

Throughout France, all ancient customs were thrown away by the revolution. The National Assembly called for freedom of worship and abolished all special activities and privileges of the Catholic Church. To raise money that was needed, the government began selling off church lands, which angered many Catholics.

In 1791, the National Assembly brought forward a new constitution. It made France a limited monarchy and established a system of separation of powers. Under the constitution, the old distinctions between the clergy, nobles, and commoners disappeared.

Few people were satisfied with the constitutional monarchy. Louis XVI was frightened at the actions of the National Assembly. He fled the country with his wife, but he was later arrested and brought back to accept the constitution. After this action by the king, moderate revolutionaries still wanted to preserve the constitutional monarchy, while the radicals distrusted the king and wanted a republic.

These were the causes of the French Revolution. Many peoples' lives were changed during this time. Peoples' ideas also changed.

After the war between France and Austria and Prussia, prices increased dramatically, and food shortages occurred. When Louis XVI and his wife fled to the Legislative Assembly, they were imprisoned. They called for a national convention to write a new constitution. The National Convention met in September. The National Convention tried and convicted Louis XVI of treason. He was sentenced to death.

News of his death spread all throughout Europe. Monarchs of European nations feared that the Revolution would spread. By 1793, the French armies occupied the Austrian Netherlands and were about to invade Prussia. But, in 1793, Great Britain, the Dutch Netherlands, and Spain went along with Prussia and Austria in a war against France. With these five powerful nations fighting against France, the French were outnumbered and outmatched. This one war was very hard for France. This war caused many deaths at home due to starvation. At this point in the Revolution, some people thought that the Revolution had gone too far and should be put to an end.

In the effort to restore temporary peace in the society, the National Convention made a constitution that created a Committee of Public Safety. It campaigned against people who were considered enemies of France. Maximilien Robespierre led the Committee of Public Safety. He wanted to create a "Republic of Virtue". The Committee went all over France to help other groups find traitors to France. During the Reign of Terror, trials for the people were held often. Many people were brought to the guillotine and killed. Most of the victims were commoners. This time of terror had scared the people, and their revolts towards the government ended.

The Committee of Public Safety organized new and powerful armies to protect itself from foreign invasion. The Committee also set limits on prices and salaries.

By early in 1794, the French armies were winning battles again, but supporters were asking if these executions of the people were still needed in society. The National Convention then arrested Maximilien Robespierre, andexecuted him, which ended the Reign of Terror.

Between the years of 1789 and 1794, French life had changed dramatically. There were changes in the lifestyle of the people, as well as in clothes and art. The monarchies were gone, and the king no longer ruled. Le National Convention abolished all feudal customs and ended all slavery. Revolutionary leaders also established the metric system. They wanted to set up free public schools, but that never came about, due to the economic problems.

In 1795, after the total ending of the Reign of Terror, the National Convention established another constitution. It established a new system of government called the Directory. This Directory, however, faced many problems. The legislative deputies begged and "bought" political votes, and prices rose sharply, something which the poor classes of society didn't like. Along with these problems, it still followed a foreign policy. It built the largest army in Europe during this time. This army were headed by a great military leader, Napoleon Bonaparte.

In 1793, Napoleon won many battles against the British, and at this time, he was a general. He next won battles over Italy, and in 1798, he invaded Egypt. He defeated Egypt's army, but he had to pay for his victory. At sea, the Egyptian Navy, led by Horatio Nelson, destroyed the French fleet at the Nile river. This loss meant that the fleet could not take the soldiers back to France, so, Napoleon left them there and he went back to France. Unbeknownst to the people of France about the tragedy in Egypt, he was still welcomed as a hero. When talking to the people at home, he found that many people were not satisfied with the Directory. With the help of troops, he overthrew the government in 1799. Under this new government, Napoleon was called the First Consul. His military talents helped him to win popular support. With his support, he was named the dictator of France.

This time in French History was important to the people of France because of the different types of government they had. Socialism, liberalism and nationalism all were results of the French Revolution. It gave people the idea that if they tried, they could reorganize a society whenever it was needed. The greatest legacy of the French Revolution, however, was that people could change anything that they wanted with political ideas, words and laws.

Related Articles & Sources:

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity - Exploring the French Revolution

Causes of the French Revolution

The French Revolution - Columbia Encyclopedia

A History of the Guillotine

A True Look Back at the French Revolution by Mel Brooks...

D.C. tenants have the right to vote to block condominium conversion. But a Washington Post investigation in March showed a pattern of landlords taking advantage of a legal loophole by neglecting their buildings, forcing tenants to vacate. When buildings become vacant, landlords can convert them without a vote, often making millions of dollars in the process.

I was incredulous.  Let me get this straight:  Wealthy Americans are just trying to get the best health care their money can afford, and somehow they're doing something wrong?

Rich people can afford better health care, just as they can afford better lawyers.  Maybe you don't think it's fair, but what's the alternative?  Should the government force rich people to purchase health care from less competent doctors?  Make a law that one can't spend over a certain arbitrary amount on health care?

No, here is what the people want:  They want the government to force the best doctors and pharmaceutical companies in the field to lower their prices so that everyone can afford them.  It sounds great, right?  Maybe if you don't think about it any further.  You don't need a degree in economics to know that if you do that, those doctors and pharmaceutical companies won't be the "best" anymore.  The "best" will disappear because they'll have no incentive to do any better than meeting a government baseline.

This guy told me that countries like Canada, Sweden, and even Iraq gives every citizen free health care, so the United States should be able to do it, as well.  In return, I asked him where the richest people in the world go when they need an operation.  Where does the best medication come from?  Where are the best hospitals?  Where are the best advances being made in the medical field?

"America" is the answer to those questions.  If a billionaire Saudi prince needs a dangerous operation, does he go to Sweden, Iraq, or Canada to get the best care his money can afford?  Of course not; the very notion is laughable.  He comes to America.  The free market is what drives success.  If doctors and pharmaceutical companies are forced to compete to survive, they're forced to get better and more efficient - and more affordable.

I don't much like this country's fascination with cosmetic surgery, but it's a prime example of the power of the free market.  Cosmetic surgery is continuously getting better, safer, more cutting edge, and more affordable.    The reason is that health insurance doesn't pay for it; the government won't give you money to make your tits bigger.  Those in the industry are forced to compete for your business, and you can shop around for the best deal.  As a result, cosmetic surgery is advancing like Moore's Law is chasing it.

Why is it that the Democrats' solution to any problem in America is at the cost of someone else?  Besides rescinding the Bush tax cuts to pay for his health care handouts, Barack Obama also wants to raise the capital gains tax.  Are the millions of Americans who invest in the stock market doing something wrong?  If not, why does he want to punish them?  Should they earn less so that others can be given more?  Democrats always say we should work together, that we have a social responsibility . . . what about the social responsibility to not consume more than you earn?  What about the social responsibility to not take the money that other people earn at the point of a gun, Senator Obama?

as reported in the Huffpo and wherever the heck they got it from, this was the menu from the g8 dinner at which they were discussing, among other topics, the problem of world hunger.

some things are so absurd as to transcend mere tags such as irony, disconnect, utter disdain and disrespect...

how heartening for us if one, just one, of the so-called "leaders" had the chutzpah, dignity, awareness or simple basic decency to have declined just either the lunch or the dinner courses.

but i reckon you don't get to be called a ruler without having to look the other way so many times that you rarely know which way you are facing or what it is you are looking at.

and of course, my little concerns pale next to someone who's really on top of things...

One of the unique aspects of Eastern Massachusetts, unlike much of the country which is defined by brand new, nondescript, "subdivisions," is that the region still has cities and towns with unique identities. Also unlike other regions, such as the Southwest (Anglo v. Latino,) South (white v. African-American,) where divisions are primarily ethnic and racial, you're still dealing with towns, which have similar racial and ethnic profiles. Our area, therefore, provides a good litmus test on class. And it's ugly.

I can think of several other places in the region where a few miles means a major difference in income. Start where I grew up, Hull. Hull is bordered by Hingham, a former target of derision of the Globe's Metro Editor, Brian McGrory. Nearby is Cohasset, an even wealthier town. Class was an essential part of the sports rivalry between Hull and Cohasset. Self-described "rich kids" from Cohasset even vandalized a portion of Hull's sea wall adjacent to the high school after a football victory. There's also the Winchester-Woburn divide.

At a time when fishing, the economic engine of Gloucester is imperiled, as Mark Kurlansky writes in his new book, towns like Beverly Farms are relatively secure as refuges for the rich. Even with the current downturn, I've watched some communities, such as Needham and Newton, go from affluent communities with good school systems, to homes for the super-rich.

Just something to think about as we sit back and watch this spectacle.

A 2008 Bilderberg Analysis

You'll note that the expansion was weaker than average in all respects except for corporate profits. Interesting that. Also, remember that the wages and salaries, net worth, ... don't take into account the fact that most people's wages didn't go up much, but those of the richest went up quite a bit. And remember that federal policies, such as President Bush's tax cuts, affect where the money goes.

Yet today we are besmirched

for having those same
patriotic opinions.

If you are a regular gardener, you may have noticed that certain ants raise cattle. They heard aphids onto some juicy plant parts, and go on to milk them.

Now, in a demented way, even slavery can be called to be to mutual benefit, in fact, the corporate world has a propaganda based philosophy that programs us into the ego fulfilling joy of being dependent on them. One may assume that the aphids receive some benefit as well. The ants might protect them from some enemies, and, or, the aphids do not have to worry about looking for food. The ants see to it that they can eat, as long as they produce for them.

I think that overall, this ant to aphid relationship is the one we have here and in most of the world. It particularly seems to apply to the philosophy exposed by actions from the political right, since they are quite wedded to an anti common spirituality of asymmetrical human relationship.

As bad as we might know slavery was, especially the more overt kind that was subjected to some Americans during the era of slavery, those who favored it seemed to think of it as a mutual blessing. They felt, through their asymmetrical mental paradigm, that some humans were not really human, and so quite incapable of surviving without them. In return for slavery, these chattel, or cattle, were "protected" and given a life if they kept producing. Many a slave owner felt entitled to their good life, and entitled to punish their slaves as they saw fit. In some profound ways, the US is now "succeeding" because people in China are so abundant and paid so little overall. Wonderful?

It may be very politically incorrect to acknowledge this truth; but many slaves, (threatened with death, and or, a seriously problematic future attempting to be free in a culture that determined they were subjects of another race), that many slaves were complacent and resolved to their systemic imprisonment. If it is a politically "wrong" notion, I am sorry, but it nevertheless is our own current state of affairs. No. We are not hauled out and killed for being "against" the corporatist perception of the servant to master head mask for the human mind, but we will be excluded, and essentially left on our own without an established support system if we do differently.

Society has long been this one way street of affairs; the wealthy have the institutions set up to service them. Just look how wrong yet biased this perception actually is, yet you likely never think of it; companies raise their prices to offset their cost. Duh! Right? Do you have a same right to raise your wage to offset your cost? Duh! Right? I'd like to see you, as an employee, raise your wage every time you need to. You would be abandoned to your own devises, and this is the asymmetrical relationship of slavery. No. Not as blatant as that one old fashioned kind.

How many demonstrations or strikes actually had the law enforcement on their side? Only "technically" since strikes and demonstrations are at times dissolved "for your own good" by authority structures. But make no mistake about it, as they say, we live in an Ant herding tiny aphid's world. This is why many human rights are atrophying under the class war onslaught of corporate rights over the rights of the individual. Yet many voters are fooled again, and again by wedge issues, into supporting the dominator class, while they sell off their own rights.

The so called "party of the people" read the power zeitgeist and has stared to fall into corporate line as well. The Democratic convention of 2004 had its own "free speech zone" like the conservative power party, removed from the convention site, so it could be soundly ignored. Business was determined to be more important than rights, and the nation itself as a free speech zone proclaimed by the constitution was revoked. Always for your own good. Freedom is that easily dumped for aphid like security.

As in overt slavery, the issue for the general population is the same; there is no support system for thinking outside the chattel box, except for trying to be a "master" oneself. We are often chastised that that is what freedom is all about; you do not like being someone else's slave? Then become a master of your own affairs, self employed somehow or a boss of you own making. This still essentially continues the one way street of perception and human imagination regarding alternative futures.

Humans were and are an integral part of life on earth. This privatization of Creation, is an attempt to be as God. The perception, based on actions, is that we no longer have a right to exist that seems endemic to life itself. Instead; the perception is being instilled that it is a privilege to exist, being that we are allowed to exist if we essentially follow the Ownership of Creation ideology. You have money or else you are allowed to "fail". Opportunist have turned this one way street into the measure of the "man". You do it and are so judged, as if God is pleased if you succeed at a Darwinianized concept of successful separation from the whole.

We each are as original peoples once were, spiritually shocked into these alien notions that tell us we divide and conquer Creation and parcel it out to those who have the money. Tribes in the Americas, for instance, thought the European invaders insane for thinking they can posses the land as a personal attachment no longer available to others. Yes. These same tribes may not have noticed that they generally do not let other tribes just run all over them and their "territory".

As with the Ant's and aphids, many unconscious structures "work" for survival without necessarily being "conscious". But we presume ourselves to be conscious. And as the Algonquin Confederation added its influence to the US Constitution via Thomas Jefferson, humankind at times becomes conscious enough to understand how common individual rights come to benefit all of a diverse society. Consciousness if the key humans can have to return to collective enlightenment.

This is the issue I am raising before you of here. How many of the wealthy are concerned that their carbon footprint, if understood under the Golden Rule or Categorical Imperative, that their lifestyle would terminate humankind, including their own families and futures? They are living on opportunism and not conscious enlightenment. They are "getting away" with their life for now, just because they can. They are, however, writing humankind's suicide note yet feeling quite the "success" in doing so.

Yes, asymmetrical human relationship is nothing new, but in the spiritual sense, it is a profound violation of the underlying truth of the universe--that all things are connected. The divisions are intrinsically superficial, and to base all our awareness on superficiality has us miss the common forest for the trees seeming to obstruct our view. We, in our mechanically surface oriented perception, are actually taking the God (Ultimate Unity) out of our view. Making It into an abstraction. Then pretending this Oneness is mental and debatable as to Its existence. We have become slaves to the limitations of our own cosmological paradigm, a paradigm at odds with Creation Itself. We have attempted to leave the actual universe, and live in one of our own imagination. Not being a responsible part of reality means; we are constructing our own exclusion!

Many might think; what is the problem? The problem is the earth will not support this mass consumption society indefinitely. We are receiving ample warnings of environmental infrastructures nearing collapse. Yet for most of us apparently; what can one do? Well. this is when things do become black and white. Some right wing ideologues do not even support a public response to the nations collapsing infrastructures. They are so against community response to common need, seeing it as a step down that slippery slope to socialism. What they do not see is; they have poked out their own eyes and bypassed their own hearts to believe we cannot do things together with one mind and intention to solve a problem. What magical answer do they have in their ideological crystal ball that is going to fix all the deteriorating roads and bridges? God will give us flying cars?

We decide to be part of the solution by being conscious of our decisions in a relationship and a global sense, or we remain part of the problem. Like those hungry aphids facing a long term drought. It does not mater how "secure" the Ants make us feel and tell us we are, nor how the commercials say they are aware and getting on the problem. The wildfire is just a matter of time. Private interest is as private interest historically does; they will milk the rest of us, then abandon you when they see fit to save themselves. That is the slaves trustful bottom line. What will we all do when these cotton fields dry up?

Grove Parc and several other prominent failures were developed and managed by Obama's close friends and political supporters. Those people profited from the subsidies even as many of Obama's constituents suffered. Tenants lost their homes; surrounding neighborhoods were blighted.

Some of the residents of Grove Parc say they are angry that Obama did not notice their plight. The development straddles the boundary of Obama's state Senate district. Many of the tenants have been his constituents for more than a decade.

"No one should have to live like this, and no one did anything about it," said Cynthia Ashley, who has lived at Grove Parc since 1994.

Obama's campaign, in a written response to Globe questions, affirmed the candidate's support of public-private partnerships as an alternative to public housing, saying that Obama has "consistently fought to make livable, affordable housing in mixed-income neighborhoods available to all."

Edit - see comment by Bruce Dixon.

Fine. Probably true. Who cares?

Obama will be a successful president if he accomplishes one thing and one thing only, and I ain't talking Iraq -- tax the hell out of the rich.

The rich have benefited enormously under King Georgie's reign, at the expense of everyone else. Repeal their tax cuts? Fuck that. Jack, jack, jack UP their taxes, not only to make up for the damage they've inflicted on this country for eight years, but to penalize them, as well.

The rich will run to other countries, jeopardizing all of us and destroying "trickle down," you say?

Fuck you. These bastards want to live here. Most of them don't relish the thought of permanent European banishment.

Obama should penalize, yes "penalize," these rich CEOs and Wall Street barons ... and then make it public. Nothing would pick up the spirit of average Americans, and thereby get this country back on the right track, more than that.

Fuck the rich. If this doesn't happen, I am really, really, really looking favorably on a replay of the French Revolution -- off with their heads!!!

An examination of corruption and class warfare in Brazil as told through the stories of a wealthy  businessman who bullet-proofs his cars, a plastic surgeon who reconstructs the ears of kidnap victims, and former Governor and Senator Jáder Barbalho, a powerful Brazilian politician from the state of Pará who used a frog farm for money laundering (see SUDAM).

The Movie Trailer

The documentary itself is available on Youtube, although I'm not sure how long it will stay there. Part 1

40th Anniversary of Poor People’s March on Washington is Opportunity for Californians to Act on King’s Dream

By Jenny Oropeza
California State Senator

This summer marks the 40th anniversary of the “Poor People’s Campaign” to address issues of economic justice conceived by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. shortly before his death.

Clik on thru and read the whole thing. As I commented to this post, 'This what we should be doing as Progressives. That is, putting forth an agenda, a program, not a candidate....' go on read the whole thing.

Mon, June 23RD 9:00 am Wilson Building – 1350 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Room 500 – 5th floor – bring id to enter

Sign up to testify by calling the Committee on Gov’t Operation, Ms Denise Wiktor

(202) 724-8105 or email dwiktor [@] dccouncil.us (cc parisa at empowerdc dot org)

This is a Critical Time to Raise Your Voice!

(More info inside)

Questions? Call Parisa at Empower DC (202) 234-9119 ...

... WHAT BILL 17-0527 DOES:

This bill is critical to ensure that DC government finally complies with the law, providing:

* A Master Facilities Plan as required by law (10-1031)
* An audit of space being leased by DC government from private developers at a cost of over $9 million per month, $110 million per year, as required by law (10-1012)
* A Master Facilities Planning and Program Coordination Committee, as required by law (10-1031)

This bill lays out a process for complying with the Comprehensive Plan which includes numerous provisions mandating the protection of public property

Key Provisions of the bill include:

* Mandating that the Mayor deliver to the Council and the Council approve the Master Facilities Plan and other key planning tools required by law before proposing the disposition of public property
* Creating a Community Development Plan to ensure DC identifies both government and community-development needs for which to repurpose public properties, before considering any public property disposition
* Defining “continuous community input” which is required in the current law, including emphasizing community and ANC involvement in public property decision making

WE’VE LOST TOO MUCH ALREADY!

email the council and tell them to support bill 17-0527!

Yo! Parisa! Post the text of the bill at the Empower DC website.

Maine has a prevailing wage law. In the Portland area, the prevailing wage for flaggers is $14.76 per hour, including benefits. That - not some bloated wage extracted by a union monopoly from timid, local politicians - should be what Massachusetts taxpayers and rate payers have to pay.

I think anyone who talks about 'bloated' wages should be required to say how much they make. I have a feeling Mr. Tuerck makes quite a bit. How much do you make David?

what I imagine everyone else sees: being a wage slave is a run-around, a rat race.  (no argument there.)  and the 'stockholders' sign is supposed to imply that a share of the profits are unattainable to anyone but the CEO.

that couldn't be further from the truth -- almost anyone can be a shareholder, just buy some shares.  many public companies have employee stock purchase plans, some even give discounts on the stock to encourage employee ownership.*

it's true that CEO's may receive stock grants and options as part of their compensation package, and no doubt that puts them on the fast track to wealth accumulation if the company is profitable -- but it's misleading to imply that stock ownership is out of reach of everyone else.

[* full disclosure:  I have no idea why I'm promoting employee stock purchase plans so heavily -- I've been virtually Enron'd (Worldcom'd?) by our plan.  I guess I hold out hope that next time around, things could be better -- the same investment in a company that isn't actively trying to go bankrupt and I could be sitting pretty.  long story short, your mileage may vary -- buyer beware.]

July 19 (that's the day after tomorrow)
10am-4pm
Suggested Donation $10 (includes lunch)

–

Global warming. Widespread hunger. People pushed out of their homes. Full time jobs that don’t even pay the basics. The world is not working; we’ve got ourselves a system that devastates the planet and exploits the majority for the benefit of a few.

What does our faith have to say about all this? How did the people of Israel and Jesus respond to the systems of economic domination they experienced in Egypt and Rome? How can Jesus followers and justice seekers live differently today?

Together, we’ll collaborate on ways to embody a just and sustainable world now and transform our present structures. Another world is possible—and our faith calls us to it.

–

Cry Jubilee! The Biblical Paradigm of Alternative Economics
Jan Sullivan, Co-director of Ministry of Money

Why Jubilee? Created Crises, Current and Coming
David Hilfiker, Author of Urban Injustice: How Ghettos Happen

Do Jubilee! Workshops Include:
Redistribution Circles with Relational Tithe
Local Alternative Economies with Anacostia Hours
International Debt Activism with Jubilee USA
Challenging Gentrification with Empower DC
Community Investing with David Hilfiker
Talking Money in Church with Ministry of Money

PBS's 'Bill Moyers' Journal' yesterday addressed these issues and called it an idee fixe  which the power elite cling to so tightly (tightwads) concerning the 'free' market system which they can't seem to think their way out of.

Why should they when their amassing of wealth stokes a rosy illusion of liberation from the collective masses--a heady motive for imagining themselves above the rabble!

Wasn't it Einstein who said you can't think your way out of a problem with the same thinking that created the problem? But these greedy, power hungry culprits don't want a way out and they prefer the rest of us simmering in the cauldron, thanks. And dissolving of boundaries--economic, national, social--is part of their much-touted one-world government intrigues where their dreams of world domination thrive.

Barack Obama's mentions of America's ongoing class warfare don't make it happen--the power elite do, then they cringe when someone points it out! As well they should. For glorified 'brethren' they sure don't care at all for their fellow man.

Yet Some People the world over are trying to better their positions bwo labor unions...

' "8Gem"..."Aroused Strikers Surround A Factory"...keynote: The disruptive power of the ambitious mind upon the organic wholeness of human relationship.

The first stage dealt with oil ('6Gem': "Workmen Drilling for Oil"...keynote: The avidity for knowledge which ensures wealth and power...AMBITION.) Now we see in this new symbol a pictorial indication of what the use of this intellect-generated energy inevitably leads to: industrial unrest and violence.

As man manages to rape the earth in order to demonstrate his power and intensify his pleasures and his sense of proud mastery, conflicts and disruptive processes are inevitably initiated. The type of power generated by the analytical intellectual faculties is essentially disruptive; it is based on the destruction of matter, and invites egocentric hoarding and spoliation--and, in general, privileges of one kind or another.

This leads to a REVOLT AGAINST PRIVILEGES.' #

Old King Midas' egocentric hoarding will get the best of him one day--if not on this earth, then on the coming New and Improved version because threading a needle with a rich camel will be an impossibility in the sweet bye'n'bye!

~:~ note: you may wish to see my Pages list for the Reaganomics Eclipse if you've hithertofore missed the trickle down nonsense. 'Trickle down'/voodoo economics only works when the corporate elite plow some of their billion-dollar breaks from the US taxpayers BACK into the economy they skimmed it from.

Instead, recent years have brought downsizing, outsourcing, and the continued selling out of America along with apt Capitol Hill enabling...we see their NWO plans in action similar to Hitler's amassing of wealth in the 30s--and the economic hourglass tilts again in the elite's favor toward totalitarian imperialism. #