The New York Times is reporting (based on government data) that "Employers Added 94,000 Jobs in November".
So, of course the Republican propaganda machine is bragging about this supposed marvelous accomplishment.
The best estimate I can find of the number of undocumented immigrants is around 50,000 crossing the border each month.
THEREFORE: The increase in jobs of 94,000 minus the illegal immigrants (and not counting legal immigrants) gives NET job openings of 44,000 for the month of November.
ADDED December 31st: Found out on Air America Radio that the U.S. of A. needs 150,000 jobs per month just to keep up with growth in the population (new workers plus immigration). So the falsity of the 'government report' about November is that the NET-NET of new jobs is thus 100,000 fewer jobs than needed – which keeps employment low and the work force scrambling for a living.
Friday, December 07, 2007
Saturday, December 01, 2007
December Quotations
"Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long."
~~ Ogden Nash [1902-71]
"Church is a place where gentlemen who have never been to heaven brag about it to persons who will never get there."
~~ H.L. Mencken [1880-1956]
"I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive."
~~ Joseph Campbell [1904-87]
"Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
~~ Winston Churchill [1874-1965]
"I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty."
~~ Woodrow Wilson [1856-1924]
(inscribed on a plaque inside the base of the Statue of Liberty)
"If the only prayer you say in your life is 'thank you' that would suffice."
~~ Meister Eckhart [c. 1260-c. 1328]
"Democracy is not something [that] you believe in or a place to hang your hat, but it's something [that] you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles."
~~ Abbie Hoffman [1936-89]
"Long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little."
~~ Helen Keller [1880-1968]
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, it doesn't go away."
~~ Philip K. Dick [1941-82]
"A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election."
~~ Bill Vaughn
"Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage."
~~ Dwight D. Eisenhower [1890-1969]
"The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy!"
~~ H.L. Mencken [1880-1956]
"I think, therefore I am annoyed."
~~ Darby Conley (draws the "Get Fuzzy" comic strip)
"Lobbying is the world's second-oldest profession."
~~ radio talk show host Bill Press
"The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is, not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended."
~~ Fredrick Bastiat [1801-50]
"Congress, after years of stalling, finally got around to clearing the way for informal discussions that might lead to possible formal talks that could potentially produce some kind of tentative agreements..."
~~ Dave Barry
"The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taken one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office."
~~ H.L. Mencken [1880-1956]
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice; in practice, there is."
~~ Chuck Reid
"Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory."
~~ Albert Schweitzer [1875-1965]
"Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten."
~~ American psychologist B.F. Skinner [1904-90]
"Nothing is worth doing unless it has the potential to f*** up your whole life."
~~ Richard Ford
"Murder is always a mistake – one should never do anything one cannot talk about after dinner."
~~ Oscar Wilde [1854-1900] (in "The Picture of Dorian Gray")
"A company is known by the people it keeps."
~~ Will Rogers [1879-1935]
"The United States seems destined to plague us with all manner of evil in the name of liberty."
~~ Simón Bolívar [1783-1830]
"Give the public something better and the public will buy."
~~ Walter P. Chrysler [1875-1940]
“Our doubts are traitors
And make us lose the good we oft might win
By fearing to attempt.”
~~ William Shakespeare [1564-1616]
"In California, the subdivider, like the poor, is always with us."
~~ Earl Derr Biggers [1884-1933]
"Whatever you do, you'll regret it."
~~ Allan Mcleod Gray [1905-75]
{many other such quotations are posted
on the Working Minds website}
~~ Ogden Nash [1902-71]
"Church is a place where gentlemen who have never been to heaven brag about it to persons who will never get there."
~~ H.L. Mencken [1880-1956]
"I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive."
~~ Joseph Campbell [1904-87]
"Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
~~ Winston Churchill [1874-1965]
"I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty."
~~ Woodrow Wilson [1856-1924]
(inscribed on a plaque inside the base of the Statue of Liberty)
"If the only prayer you say in your life is 'thank you' that would suffice."
~~ Meister Eckhart [c. 1260-c. 1328]
"Democracy is not something [that] you believe in or a place to hang your hat, but it's something [that] you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles."
~~ Abbie Hoffman [1936-89]
"Long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little."
~~ Helen Keller [1880-1968]
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, it doesn't go away."
~~ Philip K. Dick [1941-82]
"A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election."
~~ Bill Vaughn
"Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage."
~~ Dwight D. Eisenhower [1890-1969]
"The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy!"
~~ H.L. Mencken [1880-1956]
"I think, therefore I am annoyed."
~~ Darby Conley (draws the "Get Fuzzy" comic strip)
"Lobbying is the world's second-oldest profession."
~~ radio talk show host Bill Press
"The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is, not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended."
~~ Fredrick Bastiat [1801-50]
"Congress, after years of stalling, finally got around to clearing the way for informal discussions that might lead to possible formal talks that could potentially produce some kind of tentative agreements..."
~~ Dave Barry
"The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taken one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office."
~~ H.L. Mencken [1880-1956]
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice; in practice, there is."
~~ Chuck Reid
"Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory."
~~ Albert Schweitzer [1875-1965]
"Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten."
~~ American psychologist B.F. Skinner [1904-90]
"Nothing is worth doing unless it has the potential to f*** up your whole life."
~~ Richard Ford
"Murder is always a mistake – one should never do anything one cannot talk about after dinner."
~~ Oscar Wilde [1854-1900] (in "The Picture of Dorian Gray")
"A company is known by the people it keeps."
~~ Will Rogers [1879-1935]
"The United States seems destined to plague us with all manner of evil in the name of liberty."
~~ Simón Bolívar [1783-1830]
"Give the public something better and the public will buy."
~~ Walter P. Chrysler [1875-1940]
“Our doubts are traitors
And make us lose the good we oft might win
By fearing to attempt.”
~~ William Shakespeare [1564-1616]
"In California, the subdivider, like the poor, is always with us."
~~ Earl Derr Biggers [1884-1933]
"Whatever you do, you'll regret it."
~~ Allan Mcleod Gray [1905-75]
on the Working Minds website}
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
November News Factoids
Air America Radio Network outlets in Phoenix, Arizona (shut-down) & Madison, Wisconsin (threatened) were rescued this year by listeners & local business people.
Back in October 2006, radio station K.X.E.B. 910-AM in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas market was bought by Catholic Global Radio Network, who replaced the Air America format. In August 2006, the Air America outlet in Sacramento, California was suddenly 'flipped' to ESPN Sports format. In October 2007, Clear Channel's Air America outlet K.O.K.E. 1600-AM in Austin, Texas was suddenly 'flipped' to sports talk "to avoid a San Diego situation". Despite weeks of massive protests in San Diego, Clear Channel's lucrative K.L.S.D. 1360-AM Air America outlet was 'flipped' to sports talk in November.
As-of November 2007, there are NO progressive/Air America outlets in all of Texas, no outlets in Georgia, Montana & Utah, Ohio & Indiana & Iowa, and in Hawaii despite the fact that Air America programming beats right-wing propoganda programming in every market where they compete – or maybe their success is the reason for getting shut down.
* * * * * * * *
WORLD POPULATION: It took from pre-history to 1800 for the planetary population to reach 1 billion; the planetary population reached 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1987, and 6 billion in 1999. Projections suggest that Earth's population will reach 7 billion around 2012.
* * * * * * * *
There have been just under 300 Taser deaths in the last six years.
"Corporate America contributes 7 percent of the nation's total tax burden, compared with 50 percent after World War II."
— Mother Jones Magazine, Nov-Dec 2007
"Bob Novak is a compulsive liar."
— former Ambassador Joe Wilson (November 2007)
"Al Gore and Michael Moore are engaged."
— West Texas right-wing radio idiot (22 November 2007)
In 1998, a Federal Reserve study found that the richest 20% in America owned 96% of all stocks.
Before Bush 43 (October 2000) one U.S. dollar equaled 1.21 euros; today, one U.S. dollar equals 0.67 euros – a loss of 45 percent.
Back in October 2006, radio station K.X.E.B. 910-AM in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas market was bought by Catholic Global Radio Network, who replaced the Air America format. In August 2006, the Air America outlet in Sacramento, California was suddenly 'flipped' to ESPN Sports format. In October 2007, Clear Channel's Air America outlet K.O.K.E. 1600-AM in Austin, Texas was suddenly 'flipped' to sports talk "to avoid a San Diego situation". Despite weeks of massive protests in San Diego, Clear Channel's lucrative K.L.S.D. 1360-AM Air America outlet was 'flipped' to sports talk in November.
As-of November 2007, there are NO progressive/Air America outlets in all of Texas, no outlets in Georgia, Montana & Utah, Ohio & Indiana & Iowa, and in Hawaii despite the fact that Air America programming beats right-wing propoganda programming in every market where they compete – or maybe their success is the reason for getting shut down.
WORLD POPULATION: It took from pre-history to 1800 for the planetary population to reach 1 billion; the planetary population reached 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1987, and 6 billion in 1999. Projections suggest that Earth's population will reach 7 billion around 2012.
There have been just under 300 Taser deaths in the last six years.
"Corporate America contributes 7 percent of the nation's total tax burden, compared with 50 percent after World War II."
— Mother Jones Magazine, Nov-Dec 2007
"Bob Novak is a compulsive liar."
— former Ambassador Joe Wilson (November 2007)
"Al Gore and Michael Moore are engaged."
— West Texas right-wing radio idiot (22 November 2007)
In 1998, a Federal Reserve study found that the richest 20% in America owned 96% of all stocks.
Before Bush 43 (October 2000) one U.S. dollar equaled 1.21 euros; today, one U.S. dollar equals 0.67 euros – a loss of 45 percent.
The Outdoor Advertising Cartel
U.S. outdoor advertising gross revenue for 2006 {per OAAA} was $6.81 billion
The top three companies control 54.2 percent of the U.S. market.
FIRST PLACE: Clear Channel Communications of Phoenix, Arizona
$1.341 billion in revenue for 2006 = 19.7% of the U.S. market (also #1 worldwide)
SECOND: C.B.S. Outdoor of Phoenix, Arizona
$1.23 billion in revenue for 2006 = 18% of the U.S. market
THIRD: Lamar Advertising Company of Baton Rouge, Louisiana
$1.120 billion in revenue for 2006 = 16.5% of the U.S. market
FOURTH: Van Wagner Communications of New York City [re-formed 1997]
FIFTH: JCDecaux Group [est. 1964] of Paris, France
also second place worldwide (after Clear Channel)
The top three companies control 54.2 percent of the U.S. market.
FIRST PLACE: Clear Channel Communications of Phoenix, Arizona
$1.341 billion in revenue for 2006 = 19.7% of the U.S. market (also #1 worldwide)
SECOND: C.B.S. Outdoor of Phoenix, Arizona
$1.23 billion in revenue for 2006 = 18% of the U.S. market
THIRD: Lamar Advertising Company of Baton Rouge, Louisiana
$1.120 billion in revenue for 2006 = 16.5% of the U.S. market
FOURTH: Van Wagner Communications of New York City [re-formed 1997]
FIFTH: JCDecaux Group [est. 1964] of Paris, France
also second place worldwide (after Clear Channel)
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Essay #73: Unemployment In America
Most statistics released by the U.S. government of late are bald-faced lies. The unemployment statistics released each month and at the end of each year are lies at bottom, worsened by fakery by official of the current administration.
Fascism is when corporations and the government and the military collude to prevent the government services and freedoms desired by The People.
The Bush administration works very hard to replace legitimate government operations with privatized entities, operated inefficiently and at high profitability – less or no results for as much as two and three times the cost of civil service workers.
* * * * * * * *
Go to the Labor Department website and you will not find statistics on ‘workers’; what they report on is ‘consumers’, i.e. if you are not employed and spending your paycheck, then you do not count.
The employment numbers for each recent month have no basis in reality. For years now, how these numbers are created is that folks at the Labor Dept. make a thousand phone calls during the month and ask questions like “Are you employed?” and “Are you getting unemployment payments?” and “Are you looking for work?”
The fakery is this: The callers simply do not call Detroit or Louisiana and other hard-hit areas. If the numbers still look bad, then Labor Dept. management simply revises the numbers before release to the public.
That way they have some data to support the bogus reports, just in case. Recent national figures are being reported around 4.5%, while the real national unemployment number is 10%, and the number is as high as 12% in many areas.
* * * * * * * *
The reported number of illegal workers is highly variable, but usually given as 12 million. Note that they have probably displaced legal workers from 6 million jobs, or roughly 4% of the workforce. Enforce existing laws against the illegal employers, and the economically-enslaved illegal workers will have to return home, and the real unemployment rate will drop that 4% – or pretty much the official, tolerable employment rate.
Nothing is done about illegal entry thru our porous borders because the fascist corporatocracy likes it that way. Enforce existing labor law and the workplace flips from a corporatist market to a worker-shortage, labor-has-power situation.
* * * * * * * *
The long-term, official employment statistics are skewed because they count only JOBS (still avoiding the existence of workers, per se). There is no consideration of the many, many households with two and three jobs. Why are multiple jobs so popular? Because downsized pay scales force workers to seek and manage multiple jobs, very often part-time, in order to keep their heads above water. (And, of course, with the 6-fold increase in the price of oil, treading water is more and more difficult.)
Employers refuse to hire people full-time – no benefits under 32 hours per week in most states – and each such job is counted as one by the officials.
True figures can be constructed in several ways, such as counting the taxpayers (not jobs) and then subtracting that number from able-bodied members of the workforce (those seeking work), and computing UN-employment from there.
Different number, real different.
* * * * * * * *
The Middle Class is disappearing in America, and similar changes are following this pattern around the world.
The euro has grown to US$1.50 now, and the British pound is worth US$2.06, but the six-fold increase of the barrel-price of oil in seven years cancels much of that seeming benefit.
Combine the shrinking job market and the shrinking of the dollar, and any American worker who is paid the exact same pay now as in 2000 is receiving HALF that 2000 salary. Same for pensioners, such as people on Social Security.
And the millions who have gotten pay cuts and-or lost their jobs and careers, towns with closed factories, entire industries moved offshore – all getting screwed. Their chances of a decent livelihood are torn to shreds, and their children have a dire future.
Meanwhile, salaries of corporate officers have increased hundreds-fold, and they pay less tax than you do. Complain and you are out on the street, blackballed, and any ailments become ‘prior conditions’ to the healthcare cartel.
When I was growing up, a job was real, you kept it if you showed up on time and did the work. Now, a job is merely an opportunity to compete for survival, in the faint hope that the next downsizing or closure or off-shoring won’t eliminate your livelihood.
And freshly-minted college graduates leave the podium with their hard-won paper degree and $100,000 in debt, and soon find that they qualify only for 60-hour work weeks in some corporate hive or part-time work with no future.
* * * * * * * *
The Economic Class War has begun. We are in a fight for our country against ‘enemies foreign & domestic’. The situation can and will get worse.
The Oligarchy tells the Bush administration what they want done, and Congress obeys the corporatists who pay for their campaigns (even the Democrats).
The energy industry is a cartel, transportation is a cartel, the media is a cartel, agriculture is a monopoly. The infrastructure is crumbling, U.S. healthcare is a joke, education in America is a disgrace.
The United States is a Third World country, a fomenter of state terrorism, and a bankrupt nation.
America died when George W. Bush was sworn into office, and there is no chance for recovery until and unless Dubya and his gang are all impeached and imprisoned.
If Americans do not have the moral character, the political will, the responsibility for keeping Freedom alive in the world, then The Great American Experiment will end. Forever.
The U.S. Constitution begins with the phrase ‘We the People’, and the future of this country depends precisely on that same concept – We the People are and have always been the source of everything good about this country.
We the People need to do our job, which is to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”.
The choice is between Freedom and slavery. Again, and perhaps always.
Copyright 2007 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved
Fascism is when corporations and the government and the military collude to prevent the government services and freedoms desired by The People.
The Bush administration works very hard to replace legitimate government operations with privatized entities, operated inefficiently and at high profitability – less or no results for as much as two and three times the cost of civil service workers.
Go to the Labor Department website and you will not find statistics on ‘workers’; what they report on is ‘consumers’, i.e. if you are not employed and spending your paycheck, then you do not count.
The employment numbers for each recent month have no basis in reality. For years now, how these numbers are created is that folks at the Labor Dept. make a thousand phone calls during the month and ask questions like “Are you employed?” and “Are you getting unemployment payments?” and “Are you looking for work?”
The fakery is this: The callers simply do not call Detroit or Louisiana and other hard-hit areas. If the numbers still look bad, then Labor Dept. management simply revises the numbers before release to the public.
That way they have some data to support the bogus reports, just in case. Recent national figures are being reported around 4.5%, while the real national unemployment number is 10%, and the number is as high as 12% in many areas.
The reported number of illegal workers is highly variable, but usually given as 12 million. Note that they have probably displaced legal workers from 6 million jobs, or roughly 4% of the workforce. Enforce existing laws against the illegal employers, and the economically-enslaved illegal workers will have to return home, and the real unemployment rate will drop that 4% – or pretty much the official, tolerable employment rate.
Nothing is done about illegal entry thru our porous borders because the fascist corporatocracy likes it that way. Enforce existing labor law and the workplace flips from a corporatist market to a worker-shortage, labor-has-power situation.
The long-term, official employment statistics are skewed because they count only JOBS (still avoiding the existence of workers, per se). There is no consideration of the many, many households with two and three jobs. Why are multiple jobs so popular? Because downsized pay scales force workers to seek and manage multiple jobs, very often part-time, in order to keep their heads above water. (And, of course, with the 6-fold increase in the price of oil, treading water is more and more difficult.)
Employers refuse to hire people full-time – no benefits under 32 hours per week in most states – and each such job is counted as one by the officials.
True figures can be constructed in several ways, such as counting the taxpayers (not jobs) and then subtracting that number from able-bodied members of the workforce (those seeking work), and computing UN-employment from there.
Different number, real different.
The Middle Class is disappearing in America, and similar changes are following this pattern around the world.
The euro has grown to US$1.50 now, and the British pound is worth US$2.06, but the six-fold increase of the barrel-price of oil in seven years cancels much of that seeming benefit.
Combine the shrinking job market and the shrinking of the dollar, and any American worker who is paid the exact same pay now as in 2000 is receiving HALF that 2000 salary. Same for pensioners, such as people on Social Security.
And the millions who have gotten pay cuts and-or lost their jobs and careers, towns with closed factories, entire industries moved offshore – all getting screwed. Their chances of a decent livelihood are torn to shreds, and their children have a dire future.
Meanwhile, salaries of corporate officers have increased hundreds-fold, and they pay less tax than you do. Complain and you are out on the street, blackballed, and any ailments become ‘prior conditions’ to the healthcare cartel.
When I was growing up, a job was real, you kept it if you showed up on time and did the work. Now, a job is merely an opportunity to compete for survival, in the faint hope that the next downsizing or closure or off-shoring won’t eliminate your livelihood.
And freshly-minted college graduates leave the podium with their hard-won paper degree and $100,000 in debt, and soon find that they qualify only for 60-hour work weeks in some corporate hive or part-time work with no future.
The Economic Class War has begun. We are in a fight for our country against ‘enemies foreign & domestic’. The situation can and will get worse.
The Oligarchy tells the Bush administration what they want done, and Congress obeys the corporatists who pay for their campaigns (even the Democrats).
The energy industry is a cartel, transportation is a cartel, the media is a cartel, agriculture is a monopoly. The infrastructure is crumbling, U.S. healthcare is a joke, education in America is a disgrace.
The United States is a Third World country, a fomenter of state terrorism, and a bankrupt nation.
America died when George W. Bush was sworn into office, and there is no chance for recovery until and unless Dubya and his gang are all impeached and imprisoned.
If Americans do not have the moral character, the political will, the responsibility for keeping Freedom alive in the world, then The Great American Experiment will end. Forever.
The U.S. Constitution begins with the phrase ‘We the People’, and the future of this country depends precisely on that same concept – We the People are and have always been the source of everything good about this country.
We the People need to do our job, which is to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”.
The choice is between Freedom and slavery. Again, and perhaps always.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
WMail ezine #72 "Farewell Issue"
newsletter #72 [November 2007]
>+< G.E. Nordell, editor >+<
....WM....WM....WM....WM....WM....WM....WM....WM....WM....
==> HOLIDAY GIFTING TIPS: Do not set foot inside Wal-Mart. Do not purchase anything on credit. Do not purchase toys from China. Coal is still a proper gift. Shop Amazon and B&N thru the Working Minds Stores Page.
==> FREE HOLIDAY GIFT: Download & print copies of the "Working Minds Source Document" .doc file (58 pages) and wrap’em up & give one to everybody on your list, for Xmas, Channakuh or Kwanzaah:
http://www.working-minds.com/ebooks/index.htm
==> LAST INVITATION: Check out the new online Introduction To The Landmark Forum [click here] and-or the main Landmark Education website.
==> Naomi Wolf’s book "The End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot" is very scary, because her points are very true. Read the write-up on my blog and then buy & read the book.
==> What will I do next? Looks like it is time to get the “Working Minds” book manuscript box and re-key it onto the hard-drive – Don’t ask! – and then publish it, probably via iUniverse, like I did with the “Backlot Requiem” detective novel. I will save this email address book and let everyone hereon know when the new book is available.
==> JOIN THE BOYCOTT: No taxation without representation!! Since Dubya’s administration does the bidding of the corporations (the definition of fascism), there is no legitimate reason to deliver taxes to his government. Visit the www.BoycottW9.org website for instructions on witholding tax monies until Bush & Cheney are impeached & imprisoned.
....WM....WM....WM....WM....WM....WM....WM....WM....WM....
F a r e w e l l I s s u e
------------------------------
The WMail ezine (philosophy and activism newsletter) is shutting down, as-of this issue. The mission of the Working Minds Philosophy of Empowerment website will continue, by moving to other venues.
The seventy-two issues produced over the last eight years are archived on the WM website in three forms:
• The essays are posted as individual pages and are listed in numerical order at http://www.working-minds.com/WMessays.htm and also listed by topic at http://www.working-minds.com/WMtopics.htm
• The full issues – essay, quotes & news factoids – are posted by year and also listed in reverse order at http://www.working-minds.com/WMailindex.htm
• The quotations are posted alphabetically by author at
http://www.working-minds.com/WMquotes.htm
Further essays that I decide to communicate to the world will be posted to my blog – http://www.DatelineChamesa.com [est. November 2005] – and-or to mass-distribution sites such as OpEdNews.
The quotations were an extremely popular feature of the ezine. I will be posting occasional handfuls of quotations on the blog, and then adding them to the WMquotes pages.
You can set up a free subscription to OpEdNews [click here] for a wide range of non-mainstream news and commentary.
You can also subscribe to notices of all updates to my blog by keying your email address in the form/box provided there by FeedBlitz. (What will happen is subscribers receive an email within roughly 24 hours after I post new content.)
The long hiatus since WMail Issue #71 came about due to several technical problems that may or may not be resolved. My website host in New York and my I.S.P. in Vermont each took no responsibility for the problem; eventually I figured out that the email server in Virginia was involved, the owners of which referred me back to the host & ISP! Then I had to clear up records in Australia and France – round and round we went.
The other key factor in ending publication of the WMail ezine, as such, is that when I asked in the February & March issues for tales of actions taken by readers based on content of the ezine (for a planned Eighth Anniversary Issue) NOT ONE READER RESPONDED.
The hours that it took to send out 1500 or so emails per ezine issue was not producing (any known) results, so the move to other forms of mass distribution has the potential of reaching many more individuals (and with less effort).
The plan is to post updates on my blog over each month, with the essay and a handful of quotations and more-timely bunches of news factoids posted on different days, in whatever order they occur to me.
I am quite proud of the content of WMail, and am glad for the many interactions with friend and foe alike. I have had readers of many, many stripes, and from too many countries to count, including Nepal; there were also readers with U.S. military and State Department and Halliburton email addresses.
I am pleased that my readership increased over time. In fact, during the research on Joe Hill and the I.W.W. labor history page at Spirit of America, I found that the hundred-year-old I.W.W. union has only 1250 members world wide: the WMail readership was larger than the famous ‘Wobblies’ labor union!
So. The end of the ezine is a good time to re-specify the many Serious Issues of Our Time, which have become bigger and scarier over the last eight years.
• The fascist takeover of the U.S. government. (I expect that Presidential Directive 51 and the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act and the existence of Blackwater Worldwide are preparation for suspension of Con¬stitutional government here and replacement with martial law and a totalitarian dictatorship.)
• The pending unprovoked attack on Iran.
• Actual elections in 2008 (unless canceled).
• The U.S. National Debt (the United States is bankrupt) and the imminent economic meltdown desired by the Bush-P.N.A.C. crime family.
• Global warming, which is escalating beyond even Al Gore’s prognosis in “An Inconvenient Truth”.
• The absence of open political dialogue in America. (Monopo¬lies own most of the television and radio and newspaper indus¬tries; Air America Radio has been shut down in San Diego, Sacramento, Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, and Indiana.)
• Your children are unsafe on the streets, in the schools and in their homes. Their education is ludicrous. They are bombarded with propaganda and injunctions to consume. And they cannot expect or imagine a better life than their parents.
• The country is flooded with illegal immigrants, who work as slaves for illegal employers, the corporatist rulers of America who worship the Bottom Line and are exempt from the Rule of Law.
• N.A.F.T.A. & C.A.F.T.A. and the end of U.S. sovereignty.
The only action that might possibly prevent the intentions of the P.N.A.C.-Federalist-fascist conspiracy and the globalized war-profiteer slave-labor cartel is removal by impeachment of their puppets in the White House – as required in the Constitution, as designed by the Founding Fathers. The scared-rabbit Democratic Party jumps when our war-monger President says to, and the American People are tired and disgusted and desperate. Every member in Congress is subject to replacement in November 2008 – IF elections do indeed take place.
We are all in this together, including the closed-minded and the oblivious sheeple and the wise and the ‘off-grid’ pioneers. The Greens and the Commies and the Quakers, and the gung-ho military serving their various countries. The lame and the halt and the blind. The active and the passive and the connected and the loners and the lonesome.
No one will escape Dubya’s apocalyptic intentions.
“Reason is the only frontier left.” — G.E. Nordell
[copyright 2007 by Gary Edward Nordell, all rights reserved]
....WM....WM....WM....WM....WM....WM....WM....WM....WM....
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Thanks, George!
A few things that we can thank President Bush for providing America:
A barrel of crude oil was $15 in 1998 (Clinton administration), rose to $60 per barrel in 2005 (due to IraqNam), and at the end of 2007 is just under $100 per barrel.
The Canadian dollar reached a 47-year high against the falling U.S. dollar in October.
Yesterday, the dollar reached the lowest rate ever against the British pound ($2.061) and the euro ($1.4750).
The U.S. National Debt is now $9.130 trillion – plus expenses for IraqNam not yet booked.
A barrel of crude oil was $15 in 1998 (Clinton administration), rose to $60 per barrel in 2005 (due to IraqNam), and at the end of 2007 is just under $100 per barrel.
The Canadian dollar reached a 47-year high against the falling U.S. dollar in October.
Yesterday, the dollar reached the lowest rate ever against the British pound ($2.061) and the euro ($1.4750).
The U.S. National Debt is now $9.130 trillion – plus expenses for IraqNam not yet booked.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Barry Bonds Didn't Kill Anybody
Baseball home-run star Barry Bonds was indicted yesterday in San Francisco by the U.S. Attorney & a federal grand jury for lying in sworn testimony to Congress, and if convicted, he could get 30 years in prison.
No opinion on that sports & legal matter, but note that IF Barry Bonds took steroids, nobody got killed.
So that leaves us wondering why the U.S. Attorney & a federal grand jury in Washington, DC have NOT indicted the following for their perjured testimony, which mostly involved the deaths of large numbers of people in America and elsewhere.
George W. Bush
Dick Cheney
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
former Secretary of State Colin Powell
Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff
Michael D. Brown, disgraced former head of F.E.M.A.
new Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey
Alberto Gonzales, disgraced former Attorney General
Karl Rove
Erik Prince, the head of Blackwater Worldwide
Gen. David Petraeus
... and so-o-o many others in the Bush administration
No opinion on that sports & legal matter, but note that IF Barry Bonds took steroids, nobody got killed.
So that leaves us wondering why the U.S. Attorney & a federal grand jury in Washington, DC have NOT indicted the following for their perjured testimony, which mostly involved the deaths of large numbers of people in America and elsewhere.
... and so-o-o many others in the Bush administration
Thursday, November 15, 2007
November Quotations
"Sir, he who would earn his bread writing books must have the assurance of a duke, the wit of a courtier, and the guts of a burglar."
~~ Dr. Samuel Johnson [1709-84]
"The situation is fluid."
~~ radio talk show host Stacy Taylor
"Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men’s blood; think big.”
~~ Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham [1846-1912]
"What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others."
~~ Analects of Confucius
"Do not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen, and your life will go well."
~~ Epictetus [55?–135? C.E.]
"Who sees all beings in his own Self, and his own Self in all beings, loses all fear."
~~ Upanishads
"America's mainstream media have died. They were infected and killed by corporatism."
~~ Rob Kall, founder of OpEdNews
"The real leader has no need to lead, he is content to point the way."
~~ Henry Miller [1891-1980]
"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just."
~~ Thomas Jefferson [1743-1826]
"The dark night of fascism is descending upon America."
~~ Tom Wolfe (2007)
"Growing old is mandatory / Growing up is optional"
~~ t-shirt
"Lead, follow, or get out of the way."
~~ Thomas Paine [1737-1809]
"Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending."
~~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [1807-82]
"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world."
~~ John Muir [1838-1914]
"Voluntary simplicity is a high value."
~~ radio talk show host Thom Hartmann
"Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense."
~~ Mark Twain [1835-1910]
"In a democracy, the individual enjoys not only the ultimate power but carries the ultimate responsibility."
~~ Norman Cousins
"Those believing [that] they have not voted are mistaken, for their indifference affects all our futures."
~~ M.A. Denck
"Freedom is when the people speak. Democracy is when the govern- ment listens."
~~ Alistair Farrugia
"The only title in our democracy that is superior to that of President is that of citizen."
~~ Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis [1856-1941]
"An intellectual is someone who can find something more interesting
than sex."
~~ Anonymous
"Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government."
~~ Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black [1886-1971]
"The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous."
~~ Frederick Douglass [1818-95]
"Every nation has its war party. It is not the party of democracy. It is the party of autocracy. It seeks to dominate absolutely."
~~ Sen. Robert M. 'Fighting Bob' La Follette [1855-1925]
"Man does not live on enchiladas alone."
~~ New Mexico author Rudolfo Anaya (in "Zia Summer")
"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it."
~~ Edward R. Murrow [1908-65]
"The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject."
~~ Marcus Aurelius [121-180 C.E.]
"I can't name a writer who's had a more perfect life. My books are all in print, I'm in all the school libraries, and when I go places I get the applause at the start of my speech."
~~ Ray Bradbury
"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just as long as I'm the dictator. Heh, heh, heh."
~~ George W. Bush (speech on 18 December 2000)
"All's fair in love and business."
~~ Archie Goodwin character, written by Rex Stout [1886-85]
"A newspaper that is true to its purpose concerns itself not only with the way things are but with the way [that] they ought to be."
~~ Joseph Pulitzer [1847-1911]
"There are times when you just have to p*ss off everybody in order to get something constructive done."
~~ Alj Mary of Phoenix, AZ
{many other such quotations are posted
on the Working Minds website}
~~ Dr. Samuel Johnson [1709-84]
"The situation is fluid."
~~ radio talk show host Stacy Taylor
"Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men’s blood; think big.”
~~ Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham [1846-1912]
"What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others."
~~ Analects of Confucius
"Do not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen, and your life will go well."
~~ Epictetus [55?–135? C.E.]
"Who sees all beings in his own Self, and his own Self in all beings, loses all fear."
~~ Upanishads
"America's mainstream media have died. They were infected and killed by corporatism."
~~ Rob Kall, founder of OpEdNews
"The real leader has no need to lead, he is content to point the way."
~~ Henry Miller [1891-1980]
"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just."
~~ Thomas Jefferson [1743-1826]
"The dark night of fascism is descending upon America."
~~ Tom Wolfe (2007)
"Growing old is mandatory / Growing up is optional"
~~ t-shirt
"Lead, follow, or get out of the way."
~~ Thomas Paine [1737-1809]
"Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending."
~~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [1807-82]
"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world."
~~ John Muir [1838-1914]
"Voluntary simplicity is a high value."
~~ radio talk show host Thom Hartmann
"Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense."
~~ Mark Twain [1835-1910]
"In a democracy, the individual enjoys not only the ultimate power but carries the ultimate responsibility."
~~ Norman Cousins
"Those believing [that] they have not voted are mistaken, for their indifference affects all our futures."
~~ M.A. Denck
"Freedom is when the people speak. Democracy is when the govern- ment listens."
~~ Alistair Farrugia
"The only title in our democracy that is superior to that of President is that of citizen."
~~ Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis [1856-1941]
"An intellectual is someone who can find something more interesting
than sex."
~~ Anonymous
"Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government."
~~ Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black [1886-1971]
"The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous."
~~ Frederick Douglass [1818-95]
"Every nation has its war party. It is not the party of democracy. It is the party of autocracy. It seeks to dominate absolutely."
~~ Sen. Robert M. 'Fighting Bob' La Follette [1855-1925]
"Man does not live on enchiladas alone."
~~ New Mexico author Rudolfo Anaya (in "Zia Summer")
"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it."
~~ Edward R. Murrow [1908-65]
"The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject."
~~ Marcus Aurelius [121-180 C.E.]
"I can't name a writer who's had a more perfect life. My books are all in print, I'm in all the school libraries, and when I go places I get the applause at the start of my speech."
~~ Ray Bradbury
"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just as long as I'm the dictator. Heh, heh, heh."
~~ George W. Bush (speech on 18 December 2000)
"All's fair in love and business."
~~ Archie Goodwin character, written by Rex Stout [1886-85]
"A newspaper that is true to its purpose concerns itself not only with the way things are but with the way [that] they ought to be."
~~ Joseph Pulitzer [1847-1911]
"There are times when you just have to p*ss off everybody in order to get something constructive done."
~~ Alj Mary of Phoenix, AZ
on the Working Minds website}
Monday, November 05, 2007
Naomi Wolf's book "The End of America"
Journalist Naomi Wolf began research on totalitarian regimes of the XXth Century, and distinguished a pattern of Ten Steps that each of them used to gain power. The countries & regimes included Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, Soviet Russia, and various 'banana republics' in South America and elsewhere. The actions of the Bush Administration have brought about conditions both similar and dissimilar to the cited totalrian regimes of the past.
She reports the historical events, present problems, and speaks urgently on the need to prevent Bush from the final act of decalring himself 'unitary executive' {i.e. dictator).
Her book on the matter "The End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot" was published by Chelsea Green in September, and is already a New York Times bestseller.
The Ten Steps of the Fascist Shift are:
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy (worldwide terrorism).
2. Create a gulag (such as the Guantanamo prison & Halliburton's U.S. concentration camps).
3. Develop a thug caste (Blackwater, et al).
4. Set up an internal surveillance system (N.S.A. wiretaps without F.I.S.A. warrants since February 2001, for starters).
5. Harass citizens' groups (protesters such as Code Pink, animal rights groups).
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release (the 'no-fly' list).
7. Target key individuals (scientists, academics, journalists).
8. Control the press (Rupert Murdoch, Clear Channel).
9. Dissent equals treason (Limp Rushbaugh & Tom Tancredo & other idiots all day long, plus the Military Commissions Act of 2006).
10. Suspend the rule of law (a thousand presidential signing statements, elimination of habeas corpus, legalization of posse commitatus).
She reports the historical events, present problems, and speaks urgently on the need to prevent Bush from the final act of decalring himself 'unitary executive' {i.e. dictator).
Her book on the matter "The End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot" was published by Chelsea Green in September, and is already a New York Times bestseller.
The Ten Steps of the Fascist Shift are:
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy (worldwide terrorism).
2. Create a gulag (such as the Guantanamo prison & Halliburton's U.S. concentration camps).
3. Develop a thug caste (Blackwater, et al).
4. Set up an internal surveillance system (N.S.A. wiretaps without F.I.S.A. warrants since February 2001, for starters).
5. Harass citizens' groups (protesters such as Code Pink, animal rights groups).
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release (the 'no-fly' list).
7. Target key individuals (scientists, academics, journalists).
8. Control the press (Rupert Murdoch, Clear Channel).
9. Dissent equals treason (Limp Rushbaugh & Tom Tancredo & other idiots all day long, plus the Military Commissions Act of 2006).
10. Suspend the rule of law (a thousand presidential signing statements, elimination of habeas corpus, legalization of posse commitatus).
 | "The End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot" [2007] by Naomi Wolf Chelsea Green 8¼x5¼ pb [9/2007] for $11.16 publisher's bookpage American Freedom Campaign website |
Thursday, October 18, 2007
October Quotations
"In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit."
~~ Ayn Rand [1905-82]
"Pleasure can be based on illusion, but happiness rests on reality."
~~ Nicolas Chamfort [1741-94]
"The life that awaits after death is infinitely more tiresome than this one."
~~ Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. [1922-2007]
"All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare."
~~ Spinoza [1632-77]
"When there is no joy there can be no courage, and without courage all other virtues are useless."
~~ Edward Abbey [1927-89]
"The poets lie too much."
~~ poet Robinson Jeffers [1887-1962]
"Fascists are inferior people who believe it when somebody tells them [that] they are superior."
~~ Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. [1922-2007]
Nice bumper sticker: Who Would Jesus Bomb?
"Life is plenty good."
~~ Charlie Chan, as written by Earl Derr Biggers [1884-1933]
"Consequent to a time of War ... the life of Man [is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
~~ Thomas Hobbes [1588-1679] (in "Leviathan" 1651)
"It's none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think [that] you were born that way.”
~~ Ernest Hemingway [1899-1961]
"A better day is coming."
~~ Michael Moore
"I hate how the white masters of the universe have squeezed and exploited every last square inch of earth for every penny [that] they can get. There's nothing left, nothing [that] they haven't ruined."
~~ Robert Westbrook
"And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."
~~ full text of the famous Dictum of Lord Acton [1834-1902]
"It is harder to preserve than to obtain liberty."
~~ John C. Calhoun [1782-1850], in Senate speech 1848
"If the government has nothing to hide, why is it hiding everything?"
~~ USAF LtCol. Robert Bowman
"Happiness consists in realizing [that] it is all a great strange dream."
~~ Jack Kerouac [1922-69]
"Nothing exists until it is measured."
~~ physicist Niels Bohr [1885-1962]
"A lie is profanity ... A lie is the worst thing in the world. Art is the ability to tell the truth."
~~ Richard Pryor [1940-2005]
"None of the world's problems will have a solution until the world's individuals become thoroughly self-educated."
~~ R. Buckminster Fuller [1895-1983]
"Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind."
~~ Bertrand Russell [1872-1970]
"Small people talk of other people, average people talk of things, great people talk of ideas."
~~ Eleanor Roosevelt [1884-1962]
"Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, and small people talk about wine."
~~ Fran Lebowitz
"What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling sea coasts, our army and our navy. These are not our reliance against tyranny. All of those may be turned against us without making us weaker for the struggle. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in us. Our defence is in the spirit which prized liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands everywhere."
~~ Abraham Lincoln [1809-65], in 1858
"The task of my generation is a separation of corporation and state."
~~ John Laesch, 2008 candidate for Congress in Illinois
"A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom."
~~ Bob Dylan
"The most effective idealist is one who is nine-tenths entertainer."
~~ silent movie star Fred C. Thomson [1890-1928]
"63% of U.S. corporations paid no federal taxes last year."
~~ Robert Kennedy, Jr. (2007)
"The clearest way into the universe is thru a forest wilderness."
~~ John Muir [1838-1914]
"The Bush administration has taken politics from the gutter into the sewers."
~~ Stephen H. Weentland of Houston, TX
"With democrats, it's often a struggle to get them to take their own side in an argument."
~~ Will Durst
"What people are ashamed of usually makes a good story."
~~ Fitzgerald (in "The Last Tycoon")
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
~~ Thomas Jefferson [1743-1826]
"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."
~~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Like virtue, adventure is its own reward."
~~ James D. Doss
"A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done."
~~ Fred Allen [1894-1956]
"[The Bush] administration has taken a wrecking ball to the very foundations of our democracy."
~~ Al Gore, Jr. (August 2007)
"The road to hell is not paved with good intentions, but with self-justification."
~~ D.R. Meredith
"The class warfare that is being waged by the great rich against the greater majority is not just a slogan. It is as heartless as terrorism, as real as death, and expanding in scope day by day."
~~ Owen Williamson
"Integrity needs no rules."
~~ Albert Camus [1913-60]
"You can't fix stupid."
~~ Ron White
"At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done.
Then they begin to hope [That] it can be done.
Then they see [that] it can be done.
Then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago."
~~ Frances Hodgson Burnett
"The usurpation on the part of the Executive of the conduct of foreign relations, which results in Congress blindly and ignorantly following the course dictated by the President, instead of itself declaring the war policy, is fundamentally the cause of our being in this war."
~~ Sen. Robert 'Fighting Bob' La Follette, in June 1917
"The tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the ‘state of emergency’ in which we live is not the exception but the rule. We must attain to a conception of history that is in keeping with this insight. Then we shall clearly realize that it is our task to bring about a real state of emergency, and this will improve our position in the struggle against Fascism. One reason why Fascism has a chance is that in the name of progress its opponents treat it as a historical norm."
~~ Walter Benjamin [1892-1940]
{many other such quotations are posted
on the Working Minds website}
~~ Ayn Rand [1905-82]
"Pleasure can be based on illusion, but happiness rests on reality."
~~ Nicolas Chamfort [1741-94]
"The life that awaits after death is infinitely more tiresome than this one."
~~ Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. [1922-2007]
"All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare."
~~ Spinoza [1632-77]
"When there is no joy there can be no courage, and without courage all other virtues are useless."
~~ Edward Abbey [1927-89]
"The poets lie too much."
~~ poet Robinson Jeffers [1887-1962]
"Fascists are inferior people who believe it when somebody tells them [that] they are superior."
~~ Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. [1922-2007]
Nice bumper sticker: Who Would Jesus Bomb?
"Life is plenty good."
~~ Charlie Chan, as written by Earl Derr Biggers [1884-1933]
"Consequent to a time of War ... the life of Man [is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
~~ Thomas Hobbes [1588-1679] (in "Leviathan" 1651)
"It's none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think [that] you were born that way.”
~~ Ernest Hemingway [1899-1961]
"A better day is coming."
~~ Michael Moore
"I hate how the white masters of the universe have squeezed and exploited every last square inch of earth for every penny [that] they can get. There's nothing left, nothing [that] they haven't ruined."
~~ Robert Westbrook
"And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."
~~ full text of the famous Dictum of Lord Acton [1834-1902]
"It is harder to preserve than to obtain liberty."
~~ John C. Calhoun [1782-1850], in Senate speech 1848
"If the government has nothing to hide, why is it hiding everything?"
~~ USAF LtCol. Robert Bowman
"Happiness consists in realizing [that] it is all a great strange dream."
~~ Jack Kerouac [1922-69]
"Nothing exists until it is measured."
~~ physicist Niels Bohr [1885-1962]
"A lie is profanity ... A lie is the worst thing in the world. Art is the ability to tell the truth."
~~ Richard Pryor [1940-2005]
"None of the world's problems will have a solution until the world's individuals become thoroughly self-educated."
~~ R. Buckminster Fuller [1895-1983]
"Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind."
~~ Bertrand Russell [1872-1970]
"Small people talk of other people, average people talk of things, great people talk of ideas."
~~ Eleanor Roosevelt [1884-1962]
"Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, and small people talk about wine."
~~ Fran Lebowitz
"What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling sea coasts, our army and our navy. These are not our reliance against tyranny. All of those may be turned against us without making us weaker for the struggle. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in us. Our defence is in the spirit which prized liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands everywhere."
~~ Abraham Lincoln [1809-65], in 1858
"The task of my generation is a separation of corporation and state."
~~ John Laesch, 2008 candidate for Congress in Illinois
"A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom."
~~ Bob Dylan
"The most effective idealist is one who is nine-tenths entertainer."
~~ silent movie star Fred C. Thomson [1890-1928]
"63% of U.S. corporations paid no federal taxes last year."
~~ Robert Kennedy, Jr. (2007)
"The clearest way into the universe is thru a forest wilderness."
~~ John Muir [1838-1914]
"The Bush administration has taken politics from the gutter into the sewers."
~~ Stephen H. Weentland of Houston, TX
"With democrats, it's often a struggle to get them to take their own side in an argument."
~~ Will Durst
"What people are ashamed of usually makes a good story."
~~ Fitzgerald (in "The Last Tycoon")
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
~~ Thomas Jefferson [1743-1826]
"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."
~~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Like virtue, adventure is its own reward."
~~ James D. Doss
"A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done."
~~ Fred Allen [1894-1956]
"[The Bush] administration has taken a wrecking ball to the very foundations of our democracy."
~~ Al Gore, Jr. (August 2007)
"The road to hell is not paved with good intentions, but with self-justification."
~~ D.R. Meredith
"The class warfare that is being waged by the great rich against the greater majority is not just a slogan. It is as heartless as terrorism, as real as death, and expanding in scope day by day."
~~ Owen Williamson
"Integrity needs no rules."
~~ Albert Camus [1913-60]
"You can't fix stupid."
~~ Ron White
"At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done.
Then they begin to hope [That] it can be done.
Then they see [that] it can be done.
Then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago."
~~ Frances Hodgson Burnett
"The usurpation on the part of the Executive of the conduct of foreign relations, which results in Congress blindly and ignorantly following the course dictated by the President, instead of itself declaring the war policy, is fundamentally the cause of our being in this war."
~~ Sen. Robert 'Fighting Bob' La Follette, in June 1917
"The tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the ‘state of emergency’ in which we live is not the exception but the rule. We must attain to a conception of history that is in keeping with this insight. Then we shall clearly realize that it is our task to bring about a real state of emergency, and this will improve our position in the struggle against Fascism. One reason why Fascism has a chance is that in the name of progress its opponents treat it as a historical norm."
~~ Walter Benjamin [1892-1940]
on the Working Minds website}
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
October News Factoids
GAS/PETROL PRICE GOUGING
Lots of activity on the internet about boycotting Exxon-Mobil as a protest against price-gouging by the Oil Cartel. Better to boycott them all: Exxon-Mobil, Conoco-Phillips 66, B.P.-Shell, Chevron-Texaco-Unocal, and Wal-Mart – just do not buy gas there. That leaves Valero-Shamrock & Fina and others, plus your local "Bob's Gas" operations.
Profits of U.S. oil companies in the last six years were $477 BILLION!
TALK RADIO
Conservative talk radio (and worse: the vast right-wing extremism talk radio onslaught) is 89% of U.S. airtime, progressive talk only 10% as-of May 2007. What is curious about this is that the Radio-TV Cartel is in a panic about the Fairness Doctrine chimera, which no one is actually advocating.
Clear Channel is indeed 'flipping' K.L.S.D. in San Diego to a sports talk format (so that there will be no station for Democrats to purchase ads during the real 2008 election cycle).
Save K.L.S.D. website: www.saveklsd.com
CLASS WAR
The number of individuals worth one million dollars rose 8% in the last year worldwide.
Less than 10% of income in America is taxed for Social Security.
2007 wages & salaries in the U.S are at the lowest portion of G.D.P. since 1929.
Americans now owe $850 BILLION in credit card debt, which is $9,659 for the average household. == per Mother Jones Magazine (Sept-Oct 2007 issue)
The number of foreclosure filings reported in the U.S. in July 2007 jumped 93 percent from July of 2006 and rose 9 percent from June 2007.
ENVIRONMENT
"This summer, Canada's fabled Northwest Passage – the shortest sea route from Europe to the Pacific – was free of obstructing ice for the first time in recorded history." == Time Magazine, September 2007
The United States provided funding of $159 million last year for research on solar technology versus $303 million for research on nuclear energy and $427 million for research on coal energy. == Time Magazine, July 2007
The United Nations Integovernmental Panel on Climate Change says [that] "man-made global warming is unequivocal", in a new report that confirms fears that global weather extremes are now becoming the norm across the planet. (August 2007)
WAR GAMES
Seventy percent of the 2006 C.I.A. budget for intelligence work was paid to private companies.
The U.S. Navy has stopped training Navy personnel for many jobs and has outsourced operation of the nuclear propulsion on our warships to mercenaries such as Halliburton & Blackwater.
HEALTHCARE
"While the U.S. population grew 13% between 1993 and 2003, the amount of prescription drugs [that] we bought went up 70% over the same period."
== columnist Cecil Adams
THE NATION
77,000 highway bridges across the U.S. are classified as 'structurally deficient' or 'functionally obsolete', which is 25% – a serious infrastructure backlog caused by the long-term obstruction of highway funding bills by Republican politicianss under orders from Gingrich, DeLay & Hastert
Good illegal immigration primer website at www.illegalaliens.us
Lots of activity on the internet about boycotting Exxon-Mobil as a protest against price-gouging by the Oil Cartel. Better to boycott them all: Exxon-Mobil, Conoco-Phillips 66, B.P.-Shell, Chevron-Texaco-Unocal, and Wal-Mart – just do not buy gas there. That leaves Valero-Shamrock & Fina and others, plus your local "Bob's Gas" operations.
Profits of U.S. oil companies in the last six years were $477 BILLION!
TALK RADIO
Conservative talk radio (and worse: the vast right-wing extremism talk radio onslaught) is 89% of U.S. airtime, progressive talk only 10% as-of May 2007. What is curious about this is that the Radio-TV Cartel is in a panic about the Fairness Doctrine chimera, which no one is actually advocating.
Clear Channel is indeed 'flipping' K.L.S.D. in San Diego to a sports talk format (so that there will be no station for Democrats to purchase ads during the real 2008 election cycle).
Save K.L.S.D. website: www.saveklsd.com
CLASS WAR
The number of individuals worth one million dollars rose 8% in the last year worldwide.
Less than 10% of income in America is taxed for Social Security.
2007 wages & salaries in the U.S are at the lowest portion of G.D.P. since 1929.
Americans now owe $850 BILLION in credit card debt, which is $9,659 for the average household. == per Mother Jones Magazine (Sept-Oct 2007 issue)
The number of foreclosure filings reported in the U.S. in July 2007 jumped 93 percent from July of 2006 and rose 9 percent from June 2007.
ENVIRONMENT
"This summer, Canada's fabled Northwest Passage – the shortest sea route from Europe to the Pacific – was free of obstructing ice for the first time in recorded history." == Time Magazine, September 2007
The United States provided funding of $159 million last year for research on solar technology versus $303 million for research on nuclear energy and $427 million for research on coal energy. == Time Magazine, July 2007
The United Nations Integovernmental Panel on Climate Change says [that] "man-made global warming is unequivocal", in a new report that confirms fears that global weather extremes are now becoming the norm across the planet. (August 2007)
WAR GAMES
Seventy percent of the 2006 C.I.A. budget for intelligence work was paid to private companies.
The U.S. Navy has stopped training Navy personnel for many jobs and has outsourced operation of the nuclear propulsion on our warships to mercenaries such as Halliburton & Blackwater.
HEALTHCARE
"While the U.S. population grew 13% between 1993 and 2003, the amount of prescription drugs [that] we bought went up 70% over the same period."
== columnist Cecil Adams
THE NATION
77,000 highway bridges across the U.S. are classified as 'structurally deficient' or 'functionally obsolete', which is 25% – a serious infrastructure backlog caused by the long-term obstruction of highway funding bills by Republican politicianss under orders from Gingrich, DeLay & Hastert
Good illegal immigration primer website at www.illegalaliens.us
Friday, October 12, 2007
U.S. Supreme Court Decision
This afternoon, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Al Gore did NOT win the Nobel Peace Prize, that it was instead won by George W. Bush.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
WMail ezine Final Issue
The WMail ezine / newsletter of the Working Minds Philosophy of Empowerment began in the Summer of 2000, and has delivered 71 issues over the seven years. The last issue will be going out this month, as soon as I re-code that portion of the WM website.
The mission of the Working Minds Philosophy and the websites will continue by posting essays
on the Dateline Chamesa blog {your free subscription there}
and to wider distribution services such as
Op Ed News {your free subscription there}.
Further essays will also be posted on the website as another numbered entry on the WM Essays Pages.
The mission of the Working Minds Philosophy and the websites will continue by posting essays
on the Dateline Chamesa blog {your free subscription there}
and to wider distribution services such as
Op Ed News {your free subscription there}.
Further essays will also be posted on the website as another numbered entry on the WM Essays Pages.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Stock Market Casino
An unknown investor (or fund or manager) is betting a billion dollars that the Dow-Jones Eurostoxx 50 Index will plunge by 30% before September 21 (expiration of the e-trades).
The original 245,000 'put' trades were set up on Tuesday & Wednesday of this week, and many others followed once the word got out.
A similar trading scheme involving airline stocks timed for September 11, 2001 has still not been fully investigated, thus providing cause for alarm.
{For background on the topic, see WMail ezine essay #18 'The Stock Market Casino'}
The original 245,000 'put' trades were set up on Tuesday & Wednesday of this week, and many others followed once the word got out.
A similar trading scheme involving airline stocks timed for September 11, 2001 has still not been fully investigated, thus providing cause for alarm.
{For background on the topic, see WMail ezine essay #18 'The Stock Market Casino'}
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Open Letter To Congress
REASONS TO IMPEACH
1) VIOLATING THE OATH OF OFFICE: Abject failure to ‘uphold and defend the Constitution’; promotion & assumption of Unitary Executive (dictator) privileges; 800-plus signing statements; cancellation of habeas corpus & posse comitatus laws and other Constitutional provisions; illegal wiretapping, which began before September 11.
2) TREASON: Intentionally revealing the identity of the covert C.I.A. operation Brewster Jennings, and its chief agent, Valerie Plame Wilson – resulting in the deaths of foreign agents, and in the end of C.I.A. data-gathering on W.M.D. in the Middle East.
3) WAR PROFITEERING, which Harry Truman said is treason.
4) INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMES: Invading a sovereign nation; blatant violations of the Geneva Convention; torture and murder of prisoners.
5) U.S. WAR CRIMES: Torture of innocent civilians; perpetual imprisonment of civilians at Guantanamo; rendering to ‘black site’ facilities; mistreatment of veterans and active military; abuse of National Guard and Reserve and active duty military personnel (placed in harm’s way without adequate training or equipment, redeployed without proper rest).
6) BANKRUPTING THE COUNTRY: The official National Debt is now close to nine trillion dollars, an increase of 56% by Bush.
7) BEARING FALSE WITNESS: Formal and public falsification of information given to Congress and to the American people; a string of cover-ups, and then cover-ups of the cover-ups.
8) ELECTION FRAUD, including targeted voter disenfranchisement.
9) THE KATRINA DISASTER
10) STACKING THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM: Using un-Constitutional provisions of the Patriot Act to appoint federal judges and U.S. attorneys without the ‘advice and consent’ of Congress.
11) DAMAGE TO THE ENVIRONMENT: Denial of the facts of global warming; muzzling of scientists; sell-off of natural resources; reversal of environmental protection laws; closing of the E.P.A. library; appointment of industry executives to oversight bodies.
** ** ** **
Part of the neo-con denial of George Dubya Bush’s blatant psychopathy is to say that the impeachment process takes too long, that before Congress can get that job done, a new occupant of the White House will replace Bush in January 2009.
Hogwash!
The historic reality is that the G.O.P.’s witch-hunt is what took a long time, because there were no crimes by Bill & Hillary to prosecute. The special prosecutor spent $60 million and found nothing! After manipulating the situation so that Clinton lied about having sex ‘with that woman’, the actual process of impeachment took a mere two months, and the end result was that the U.S. Senate found Clinton not guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.
If the 110th Congress manages to find the cojones to do their sworn duty, our criminal President and Vice President and their mob of fascist freedom-haters can be sent packing – either to prison or to exile – before 2007 ends.
After regime change, America can then get to work fixing the damage done by the Bush administration.
** ** ** **
Please copy the above into the online message form for your Congressperson and both Senators for your state.
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
1) VIOLATING THE OATH OF OFFICE: Abject failure to ‘uphold and defend the Constitution’; promotion & assumption of Unitary Executive (dictator) privileges; 800-plus signing statements; cancellation of habeas corpus & posse comitatus laws and other Constitutional provisions; illegal wiretapping, which began before September 11.
2) TREASON: Intentionally revealing the identity of the covert C.I.A. operation Brewster Jennings, and its chief agent, Valerie Plame Wilson – resulting in the deaths of foreign agents, and in the end of C.I.A. data-gathering on W.M.D. in the Middle East.
3) WAR PROFITEERING, which Harry Truman said is treason.
4) INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMES: Invading a sovereign nation; blatant violations of the Geneva Convention; torture and murder of prisoners.
5) U.S. WAR CRIMES: Torture of innocent civilians; perpetual imprisonment of civilians at Guantanamo; rendering to ‘black site’ facilities; mistreatment of veterans and active military; abuse of National Guard and Reserve and active duty military personnel (placed in harm’s way without adequate training or equipment, redeployed without proper rest).
6) BANKRUPTING THE COUNTRY: The official National Debt is now close to nine trillion dollars, an increase of 56% by Bush.
7) BEARING FALSE WITNESS: Formal and public falsification of information given to Congress and to the American people; a string of cover-ups, and then cover-ups of the cover-ups.
8) ELECTION FRAUD, including targeted voter disenfranchisement.
9) THE KATRINA DISASTER
10) STACKING THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM: Using un-Constitutional provisions of the Patriot Act to appoint federal judges and U.S. attorneys without the ‘advice and consent’ of Congress.
11) DAMAGE TO THE ENVIRONMENT: Denial of the facts of global warming; muzzling of scientists; sell-off of natural resources; reversal of environmental protection laws; closing of the E.P.A. library; appointment of industry executives to oversight bodies.
Part of the neo-con denial of George Dubya Bush’s blatant psychopathy is to say that the impeachment process takes too long, that before Congress can get that job done, a new occupant of the White House will replace Bush in January 2009.
Hogwash!
The historic reality is that the G.O.P.’s witch-hunt is what took a long time, because there were no crimes by Bill & Hillary to prosecute. The special prosecutor spent $60 million and found nothing! After manipulating the situation so that Clinton lied about having sex ‘with that woman’, the actual process of impeachment took a mere two months, and the end result was that the U.S. Senate found Clinton not guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.
If the 110th Congress manages to find the cojones to do their sworn duty, our criminal President and Vice President and their mob of fascist freedom-haters can be sent packing – either to prison or to exile – before 2007 ends.
After regime change, America can then get to work fixing the damage done by the Bush administration.
Please copy the above into the online message form for your Congressperson and both Senators for your state.
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Insult To Grumpy Americans
McDonald's and other fastfood chains have the Happy Meal, Star Meal, et cetera for kids. So how come equal attention is not given to all the members of the Grumpy-American community? When enough grumpy activists ask for the Grumpy Meal at each visit to any chain outlet, we will be given our due – a fastfood meal with OUR name on it!
Monday, May 21, 2007
George W. Bush Über Alles
Well, maybe there won't even BE an election in 2008.
On 9 May 2007, President Bush signed a directive giving himself the power to run the entire U.S. government, single-handed.
Yup, you can call it the 'Dictatorship Enabling Act of 2007'.
The official title is "National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive {N.S.P.D.-51 and H.S.P.D.-20}" and the link below is to the White House's oh-so-very-quiet press release.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070509-12.html
What can you do about this? One option is joining the Working Minds 'Boycott W-9 Project
http://www.boycottW9.org
On 9 May 2007, President Bush signed a directive giving himself the power to run the entire U.S. government, single-handed.
Yup, you can call it the 'Dictatorship Enabling Act of 2007'.
The official title is "National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive {N.S.P.D.-51 and H.S.P.D.-20}" and the link below is to the White House's oh-so-very-quiet press release.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070509-12.html
What can you do about this? One option is joining the Working Minds 'Boycott W-9 Project
http://www.boycottW9.org
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
WMail #70: "The Cage"
the latest issue of the free WMail 'Working Minds' philosophy & activism email newsletter is sent out, and also posted online
the essay topic is "The Cage", posted online at http://www.working-minds.com/WMessay70.htm; the full issue includes news & comments and a couple dozen quotations, and that is posted at http://www.working-minds.com/WM2007b.htm#70
the topic of the last issue was "Summer Solution - Impeachment", and the 72nd issue will be on the topic "Fashion"
each issue is posted online –
see http://www.working-minds.com/WMailindex.htm
and the essays are also posted separately –
see http://www.working-minds.com/WMessays.htm
quotations are posted by author
at http://www.working-minds.com/WMquotes.htm
sign up for the free ezine via email here
the essay topic is "The Cage", posted online at http://www.working-minds.com/WMessay70.htm; the full issue includes news & comments and a couple dozen quotations, and that is posted at http://www.working-minds.com/WM2007b.htm#70
the topic of the last issue was "Summer Solution - Impeachment", and the 72nd issue will be on the topic "Fashion"
each issue is posted online –
see http://www.working-minds.com/WMailindex.htm
and the essays are also posted separately –
see http://www.working-minds.com/WMessays.htm
quotations are posted by author
at http://www.working-minds.com/WMquotes.htm
sign up for the free ezine via email here
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
World Trade Center Conspiracy Disproved
All that conspiracy talk about the attack on Sept. 11 by two hijacked airplanes on the World Trade Center in New York City – about how the Twin Towers could not have simply collapsed from the planes, that jet fuel does not burn hot enough to melt steel – is completely disproven by the tanker truck that burst into flames on the approach road on the Bay Bridge in Oakland, California around 4 a.m. on April 29th. Heck, it was just plain gasoline/petrol and not even jet fuel!
Apply enough heat for a long enough time and steel melts: the Bay Bridge collapsed and that proves that the same is easily true as well for the W.T.C.
Apply enough heat for a long enough time and steel melts: the Bay Bridge collapsed and that proves that the same is easily true as well for the W.T.C.
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