Category: Meta

Author’s Note:

This is a loving parody, not to be taken too seriously. I myself identify as Feminist, but I wanted to try my hand at satire. It is Friday, after all. Apologies are due to God, Moses, or whomever compiled the original text of Genesis.  

A story broke on 7 September about Charles Leaf of Fox News being accused of sexually assaulting a four-year-old child.

And I wonder: what is the real story here? Is it about Charles Leaf: The New Most Repulsive Fox News Reporter? Is it about this particular child and the attending epidemic of worldwide abuses against our children?

Or is the story some macabre parable of America (and maybe even the white western world) gone wrong?

Maybe the story is an allegory about the powerful (men like Leaf) and powerless (like the child), and what passes for “civilization” these days: an epidemic of woman and children sold into slavery, the rape and plunder of third world countries, and what plays as the pornographic orgasmic uberness of our own lives… in this bigger and more is better universe where everything has to be special, unique… it must be uber sex, uber religion, and uber partisan politics. Not to mention, um, uber consumerism.

^{trying to play a different game… writing in the rAw}

Burning the Midnight Oil for Progressive Populism

Really, not as intense a tragedy as Kent State, but if he gets the Speaker’s Gavel in a wave election, another tragedy from my home state, Boehner of Orange.

Versus Nancy Pelosi.

People, its the midterms. I understand that many had their hopes stoked by the Presidential campaign, and many had their hopes satisfied, at least somewhat, and many had their hopes dashed, at least somewhat … but this aint Presidential Primary season. Its the General Election Midterms.

Where are the YouTubes telling young Hispanic first time 2008 voters in Spanish “Poder para el Pueblo / Nadie Silente! Vota!” … where’s the Green fightback against Republican scorched earth … is it all lost in naval gazing in the middle of General Election season?

Well, I’ve been wanting to participate here for a while.  Had a friend nudge me just enough to start it off proper.

Sometimes I do this.  Just write up some initial chatter to break the ice.  Some places don’t seem to evoke that.  This one does.  I generally enjoy the commentary here, and I think I know a fair number of you too, which is always a plus.

Right now, it’s a slow Saturday morning.  Ever think about the very high value of Saturday?  To me, it’s a very special day, because one can basically do whatever they want on that day, assuming a ordinary work week that is.  Want to get completely hammered?  This is the day, because you’ve got one to recover and somehow manage to show up at work, ideally capable, but maybe just there.

So that’s one good thing about this day.

Another is it being the first real day off.  I don’t know about you guys, but work comes at a huge premium right now.  I note that corporate profit, in general, is very high.  Well, no fucking wonder!  We’ve got people running ragged, generally worried over the clear and present threat of so many not actually working.  I’m sure the powers that be love that.

Often when I’m writing, my cat Zozo tends to camp out on my lap, occasionally making noises, or rubbing, shifting, putting that paw out, looking for a pet and some nice words.  Wonder what she thinks of me looking at a screen, moving all those fingers around?  She’s probably thinking there are much better things to do, like play with the laser dot (and, if you’ve not done that with your pet, do!  It’s a blast, just use moderation.), or maybe go explore the yard together, maybe playing in the tree.

Since I’m rambling, I love animals.  The more aware animals are just like little people!  They have the same issues, the same needs, and often are a whole lot smarter than we give them credit for.  One big thing is getting over the differences.  I find learning about the animals, learning enough to have a conversation, or read an emotion is often no different than doing the same for people.  With animals, they have no layers of abstraction that get in the way of others knowing who they are.  They just are –unabashedly, I might add, feeling no shame, and very little inhibition, once the trust is there.  

There is something in that for all of us –and it’s something good.  There should be a whole lot less shame and inhibition in the world, and the animals show us how that can be, and why it matters.

Growing up, I generally hated politics.  Really, to me, it all seemed complex and very unproductive.  Since then, having matured, working in various places, the importance of politics has continued to dawn on me.  A whole lot of our current trouble boils down to a very large percentage of us simply not doing our civics.

Sometimes I wonder about that, then I consider that Saturday again.  It’s awfully hard to invest in civics when there are so damn many escalating demands.  This is by contrived design, BTW.  Make no mistake about it.  

Somehow, we have to get more people to do that more of the time, or…  get them to allow others to do it by proxy.  The religious right and corporate right are both very good at this, and that’s largely, IMHO, due to their lack of consideration for others.  Exploitation comes naturally, and with that comes the tools for exploitation, and that’s the story we know today.

Is it possible to get real trust in this way and not be corrupt?  I don’t know, but I’m curious about it.  The idea that there are enough people to decide an election for the better, sitting on the sidelines is a compelling one, in that it is the only real check we have right now on corporate abuses, and corruption, but how to engage them?

One way is stories.  When we know people, it’s harder to do the wrong things, and it’s harder to ignore things, and the value of interaction goes up big.  Maybe it’s all as simple as investing the time to tell stores, engage people, and get them to vote at a minimum, seeing that minor effort pay off with better policy.

There you go!  My first ramble essay here, ideally more to come.  You will see me in the comments on and off, for sure.  Probably not on this one though.  My Saturday just got a bit busier, as Mrs Potatohead just entered the room wanting to do stuff!  No matter how ugly the world gets, I know I’ve got at least one person, who will enter the room, and want to do stuff, because I matter.  That’s worth a lot more than the dollars and the power, any day of the week.

Cheers all!

If Republicans got their Way … there would be no more Medicare.

If Republicans got their Way … you couldn’t Retire until 70.

If Republicans got their Way … they’d privatize Social Security.

If Republicans got their Way … there would be no more Corporate income tax.

If Republicans got their Way … they’d eliminate taxes on Capital gains.

If Republicans got their Way … they’d cut in half the taxes of the richest 1 percent.

If Republicans got their Way … the Bush Tax Cut for the Rich would never end.

Factlets from The Republican’s Roadmap for America’s Future:

The Ryan Budget’s Radical Priorities

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

By Paul N. Van de Water — July 7, 2010

Gridlock

grid·lock

noun

1. A traffic jam in which no vehicular movement is possible, especially one caused by the blockage of key intersections within a grid of streets.

2. A complete lack of movement or progress resulting in a backup or stagnation:

“the political gridlock that prevented … the President and Congress from moving expeditiously to cut the budget”

gridlock – Chiefly US

noun

1. (Engineering / Automotive Engineering) obstruction of urban traffic caused by queues of vehicles forming across junctions and causing further queues to form in the intersecting streets

2. a point in a dispute at which no agreement can be reached; deadlock political gridlock

verb

1. to block or obstruct (an area)

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gridlock

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Is it just me, or is the face of American Employment Opportunities, subtly changing?

Has the Dignity of an Honest Day’s Work — suddenly become a “Luxury”, that as a country, we can no longer afford?

Or is it simply that the Toothpaste of “Cheap Labor”, has been squeezed out of the Tube — and it’s such a mess now, there is no easy way to put it back to where it used to be.

Is the Job Market going through a permanent “structural change” — one where the employment landscape will look totally different, after the all the Great Recession dust has cleared?

The past several days I’ve been musing on the chosen strategies employed by the privileged and the well-educated to solve societal problems.  In particular, I’ve been contemplating the idea of poverty.  As is typical for me, I’ve been seeking to find intersections and similarities between seemingly divergent topics, all in the hopes of eliminating confusion among everyone.  Sometimes we disagree because we inadvertently work at cross-purposes to each other.  The anecdote to follow illustrates how social class muddies the waters quite considerably, and how in the process we often find ourselves talking past one another.  I’ve found this exercise personally helpful in many instances, and I tell it now in the hopes that readers might feel the same.

I have a general ‘rule of thumb’, when writing a Diary: “Don’t make it about yourself.”

Today, I’m going to break that rule.

I work for a Govt Agency.  A database, software programmer … who has watched our very able programming staff of about 15 … shrink, dwindle, attrition away into about 5 or 6 “lucky ones” who still “remain standing”.  

Five years of budget cutting projections, have met their goal — however unmercifully.

AND in the “All Employees Meeting” I just left, the Message was once again, Still the Same …

Doing More with Less

Rod Kurtz, Bloomberg Businessweek –April 22, 2009

Smaller companies are feeling the squeeze of budget cuts, reduced demand, and tighter credit. It has never been more important to do more with less.

Since labor is the largest controllable expense, integrating and automating management, payroll, and HR is a place to start.

Govt is feeling that Pinch too.

Funny how Management in both worlds, always thinks, It’s the Employees that are the Problem!

BP Apologists.

Excuse Pollution.

Ban Regulations.

Reward Incompetence.

Protect Corporations.

Outsource Prosperity.

Embrace Unemployment.

Ignore Homelessness.

Shelf Compassion.

Pocket Donations.