Checking For Elves

I Love the Cold

2009-12-14T13:08:00.000-08:00

The ball bounces. The box closes. Above me are a billion stars and I am tiny. Seeing the galaxies spread out before me I feel small. Not insignificant.

I stare at clean snow and think of marks I would like to make. The old call rises in me. I have identified with this idea for so long. Make no marks. Leave it clean. Confound and frustrate those who follow by hiding all trace of yourself. I never existed. I never happened. I didn't mar the world of the future just because I was afraid of death.

We are all afraid. We all want a small piece of the world to claim as ours, to mark. What is left is a scarred planet.

I stare at a clean page and think of marks I'd like to make. The old call rises in me. Say nothing. Everything offends. Someone. Leave them to their devices. Stick to your own devices.

There used to be fun in cleverness and now there isn't. There are better things to do than wordcraft. I don't have anything to actually say because there isn't anything I want anyone to know. About me, about anything. I wanted people to stop letting themselves be pushed around once, but I'm becoming aware that the people I wanted to enlighten might be the bullies.

So I'm going back to looking at clean snow. Want this to stay. Clean. Leave it alone. Understand, before being understood.

In the snow there is no fake deity, no corporate sponsorship. The government doesn't own the snow yet.

The snow is only in my mind. A million flakes have fallen before my eyes, a repetition that ensures correctness. Beyond memorization.

I can slow it down and watch it like that. Every flake and its families. I can even see myself as a kid staring at it. I can see beyond the snow at the people who made my life. I can see the old house.

If I could really go back to those days that I hate but for which I long, how different it would be. The problems would vanish because I only put up with them out of fear for the future. For today. I'm here now and it seems like I was being silly.

Today is fine. I didn't have to be scared. So I wouldn't be back then either. I'd look at the bellowing faces and laugh at them. I'd speak truth to them. I'd order them to stop marking up my life. I'd spend that time and energy I spent on fear in other ways. I'd give warmth and security and comfort to those smiling faces in my past. I'd put smiles on those faces that aren't.

Imagine if everywhere I went I brought happiness and warmth. Joy and fun and happiness. Like a sunny day, or even like a clean cold snowfall.

I look at the snow and I'm alone, and most myself. I am most myself in the quiet times. I am most myself when I am surrounded by the din of people, the mad music they play at uncomfortable levels. In those moments I am forced out of the human race, I am most aware of the inside of my head. In those moments I see all people as one large separate entity, all together, and I am alone. When everything around me is quiet I am most myself. When everything around me is clash and noise, I am most quiet.

When I am most myself I am most aware of my death. There is something that lives in me that is not of my body. I don't believe in comic book deities, but I do know there is something awake and aware in me, something that is alive in spite of or despite or separate from my body. When I look at the cold clean snow I think of this thing that is me the most.

My mind races in a panic, of a sudden. I'm going to be dead one day. It hardly seems fair. Something is watching me and only cares about me as far as I can tell it about its own life. Something that made me is afraid of death and that is why I exist. My death is only scientific curiosity. It hardly seems fair.

Why not speak to me? Why not meet me and let me look upon it, and let me tell it what I see with these eyes?

It's how it always goes. For a moment I can become aware of the immaterial me, and then concerns flood the inside of my head and noise takes over. Now I am angry, or hating, or laughing, remembering. Whichever it is, I've lost the fleeting feeling of myself again.

I stay in contact as long as possible with the fleetingness of me because I want to lift my head out of this goldfish bowl. I am uniquely aware that my entire universe, even the stars in the sky, are part of my bowl, and that I mistake that for totality. It's not. It's now.

Lift my head out of the bowl gasping, and there are giant creatures wearing sweaters. Only they aren't sweaters, because I don't have any frame of reference for what the giants do, anymore than the fish understands what a sweater is. Or what wearing is.

I lift my head out of the bowl for just a moment, a moment frozen, and I am so unfit and unworthy to be in this new realm that I can't stop laughing hysterically at my shame, at myself. I don't belong here. Far better, and smarter, creatures live here. In between gasps I try to stammer out an apology for disrupting their world. Ridiculous. My head is about as disrupting as the fish who ripples the pond. I actually think myself important. The realization of which causes me to laugh even harder.

To their credit the giants are understanding. They wait, simply, to see if I have anything to say. They say nothing, because there is nothing to say to a fish. But they are good listeners. Keenly aware they always need help. And that it might come from the unlikeliest of sources, like a laughing fish. So they listen more than patiently. When I am done I slowly sink back, laughing, into the pond, where I will think forever on what I saw. I will wonder. I will look at fresh snow and loved ones in my mind and try to be changed by my few gasps of real air. I'm holding it in my lungs right now. I never fully exhale because there's a pocket of rare air I won't give up. But which I will share.

I want to go back and be a kid again, but not a powerless one. But I can't do that. So I long to give kids power. I long to leave an unmarked world for them, I long to beat back the bellowing faces for them. Is there ever a snow as beautiful as the one that rings with the voices of happy children?

Lou's Picture

2009-07-13T22:17:00.000-07:00

This is a follow-up to the last post. Lou brought up that my post may have been a little hard to follow and re-reading it I think she may have a point. Her question: "Are you saying television makes people stupid?" What follows is a response I was going to put in the 'comments' - but thought maybe it was a little long for a comment and more importantly, should stand on its own to expand the argument.

************************

Does TV make people stupid? This isn't the question I was answering, in a sense. The point I'm trying to make is that television is viciously fought over by people who never intend to be on it, and who make only some of their money in advertising. Fought over by people, to own it outright.

I recently read an article by Amy Goodman, investigative journalist for Democracy Now! Her story, of trying to get heard, of trying to get seen, of trying to make any kind of dent at all in the White House press room, sounds a lot like what Turner describes briefly here. According to Goodman, you end up climbing ladders, hanging off light poles, waving your arms and in short looking like a complete nut (basically what the establishment was trying to do by keeping her back in the fringe in the first place).

She's on a national show, she's deadly serious and smarter than any 20 mainstream reporters. Certainly she should be able to ask at least a single important question about the United States' policies - it's not like she's part of a tidal wave of intelligent reporters hounding the President. A lot of the time she's trying to bust in between a reporter's 6 questions about the President's ties or pets.

Television is controlled tightly to the point that it isn't just lacking in any intelligence building, educational material - it goes one step further by in fact filling the listener with misinformation.

With all the debate raging about healthcare and its funding, you are least likely to be informed by television. Most people have not read the important reports released by government agencies and watchdog groups that in fact mathematically detail that only single-payer national insurance will cut costs and cover 100% of people. They know there's "two sides" to the story and that's about it. Maybe they think one side is communism. I don't know.

But when I correspond with these people on boards and newsgroups and in person, some pretty shocking misinformation is out there - the same phrases and words almost memorized and parroted by each person - and it goes on down the line, issue by issue.

It isn't that television makes one stupid: it's that it can be a powerful tool for education. It is brightly lit and a lot of preparation goes into just about everything you see. From the writing and creation and production, to the post-production, sale, scheduling and promotion, a lot of time and capital goes into that box.

And what is coming out? More and more people, bless 'em, are saying it: we're in a class war.

The Pope released his ecumenical, a diatribe against the growing divide between classes.

And the fact is that this box that people worship - according to Nielsen - for about five hours a day doesn't just put stupid ideas into people's heads; what time are people going to use to find out what is really happening in the world?

Many, many people are still in la la land for example about Palestine, believing the issue is Israel's right to protect itself. Meanwhile what is happening in Palestine is an ethnic cleansing, with the US footing the bill. Israel's killing Palestinians at the rate of 30-1 (30 Palestinians, one Israeli) during peaceful times, 50-1 during most of the rest of the time, and 100 - 1 when they go on those brutal offensives where they use internationally illegal weaponry to kill civilians and demolish homes- and the idea is that we are supposed to keep paying for it and applauding it because Israel supposedly has the right to defend itself.

Only it doesn't.

International law, which the US never follows, states clearly that you do not have the right to always defend yourself any way you want. Certainly not until you have exhausted peaceful means.

For example: if I enter your home and refuse to leave, and you start pushing me out forcefully, I DO NOT have the right to defend myself. I have to try the act of leaving your home, and see if that stops the problem.

If I instead "defend myself" by shooting you, we've got a big problem. We've got the kind of problem that lately has made more than a few high-level IDF (Israeli Defense) soldiers break down and tell-all about atrocities they have committed on the Palestinian people.

Where is any of this going to appear on television? You going to tell me there's no money in news coverage of Israel-Palestine? I mean ok you might not like the argument, but it happens to be international law and it should at least get brought up once in a while. People will watch that, of course they will. Doesn't come up. Why?

Is there a mainstream news outlet that will ever, ever say that Palestine is involved in a resistance to a brutal occupation? It's the truth, of course. There's not a single reason it has to be classified the way it is 100% of the time. Some of the time, it could maybe be called a resistance, instead of terrorism.

I believe strongly in the right of existence, and legitimacy of, Israel. I'm aware that racism abounds in the Middle East against Israel. But in practical, real, blood terms, Israel is going to wipe a people off the face of the Earth, and we'll have paid for it all. And we pay for it because we love for Israel to do it.

I know about all this because of good, moral, wonderful Israelis who, we don't all know, are fighting their hardline political right (Israel is sometimes described as being on the verge of a civil war over this) and trying to stop the senseless slaughter of children in Palestine - the illegal, immoral and heinous slaughter of these people. So, there are even Israelis who think it is shockingly bad form to arrest Hamas the same day that Palestinians legally elected them to office. But you won't hear about it on American news. A lot of Israelis buy into the hardline right's bullshit for the same reason we do, because their wealthy elite pays for their television.

"But what about what the Palestinians did?!?" is a question a lot of people ask in some form or another. Whatever it is they did has been covered ad nauseum. There is 0% coverage of the other side. Why is that? In the fictional "marketplace of ideas" this should come up. It doesn't.

It's pretty regular among media watchdogs and resistance movements to point out that in almost every issue that is important to us, you will get one of only three outcomes: either people never hear of the issue; they hear about it vaguely in the background; and they hear about it in such a hacked and slashed version that the "two sides" to the official story won't even touch what is actually going on.

Ineptitude? 100% of the time?

When the US was invading Panama on a regular basis, the New York Times printed that the UN had severely rebuked the USSR for their invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. This is the New York Times now, the so-called liberal media.

Well the UN did rebuke the USSR - along with the US. It said quite clearly that the USSR AND THE US must immediately stop doing exactly the same thing to two different places: USSR, get out of Afghanistan, US, get out of Panama. The UN didn't buy either the US' or the USSR's stories about security or any of that nonsense.

The US and the USSR went on to do exactly as they pleased, of course, and the article was just a big waste of space, as was the UN decree. But why did such a crucial half of the statement get lopped off?

The point I was trying to make through Ted Turner, Warren Buffet, and Nielsen, is that television is specifically a corrupting influence because of the specific 5 or 6 people who are fighting to control all of it.

When reading Ted's essay, it amazed me. I hate to say this because television makes me sick now - but television is just too damn important and powerful to let it go unregulated, and to let it be run and owned by just anyone.

Hypnosis doesn't work 100% of the time. It works on the susceptible, those who enjoy it and help the hypnotist just a little. But it's never 100%.

Neither is television. But imagine the power to simultaneously give it a shot in every home in the country - 24 hours a day.

I remember as a child literally being in a hypnotic state while watching television - no memory of the program I'd just watched, no memory of people calling me, no memory of people walking in front of me and leaving the room. Just blank.

There's a reason a few very powerful people fight over control of the television, and the camera-access. And it isn't just that television advertising is profitable. It is that advertisement -whether it be actual commercials, the news which tells us how to think about issues, or television shows which tell us what is "normal" for humans to think and do- advertising is unbelievably effective for mass control of the population.

There's a great Calvin n Hobbes cartoon where Calvin states that Karl Marx regarded religion as the opiate of the masses. Then the Television thinks to itself "Karl never got a load of me".

Also, my point about stupidity is that it's not 'less brains' that makes people act the way we see on Sarcastic Bastard's blog. A lot of those idiots on Bastard's blog are the very people on the damn television that people watch for 5 hours a day. Lavished with wealth and attention.

Why? What's the goal here? Americans hate to even think that we have social planners... but we do. Why are they doing this? I don't think all this happens because so many people weren't born with enough grams of 'grey matter'. I think you have to work at it, and I think that is what is happening; day in, day out, rain or shine, everyone sits down for their five hours of re-education. And it's fun too! Chandler and Monica make us laugh!

Meanwhile not a single financier lost their job because of the death of the American economy; and yes, amazingly, it is a well-kept secret that the credit default swaps and the securitization of mortgages that have been targeted for blame are still going on. That's right: still going on. Not on the news, not on TV. TV watchers are, I guess, watching endless re-tellings of Michael Jackson's various timelines.

Television doesn't work for us. It isn't for us. It's against us and used against us. Why are CBS, NBC and ABC maintaining such a tight hold over access to the President, only to ask him about his date with his wife - or some similarly clueless question even if it does touch on something real? Does it make sense to ask the President how he's going to kill bad people in Pakistan? Or does it make more sense to ask how the hell he gets the nerve to involve the USA in two new wars when he promised he'd get us out of war?

The latter question is in the vein - more professionally phrased, of course - that someone like Amy Goodman would ask, if she were allowed. Television isn't free, and it's not a free country. There are mighty inconvenient truths about us out there - and they won't be appearing on television any time soon.

Great examples have to be kept off television also. My wife just mentioned that she listened to Howard Stern today and one of the staff talked about being in Italy and receiving super-fantastic care - for free. At the end, when it came time to fill the prescription, he found out to his shock that pharmacists are required to be within 5 minutes of the pharmacy. Even though it was after 10pm, the pharmacist - happily -ran down and got him his meds. $4.

They even discussed how it happens that we never hear about things like this. Their conclusion: companies don't want you knowing.

Well, that's not rocket science. Of course insurance companies don't want you knowing. What should gall the ever-loving shit out of us, is that coincidentally, there is a 100% success rate at achieving what the insurance companies want or don't want, on television. I mean yeah, of course Cigna wants to make socialized medicine look like Medieval torture (quote from the staffer on the Howard Stern show "I don't know! It looked like socialized medicine to me, and I LOVED it!" These guys tend to be well to the right, politically, of the country; this is no hippy talking, saying he loved socialized medicine).

They aren't supposed to be able to do it. But to accomplish near total compliance with the wishes of the Insurance companies - on television- which includes the news - should really anger the bulk of the populace.

I really think all at once 90% of this country should drop their cable/satellite connections. If Americans won't take to the streets, I can't think of a more devastating way to revolt against the corporate masters. Stop paying for cable and satellite. Stop watching commercials. Let network news desks wither and die. Be able to proudly ask "Ally McWho?" You'll start to see some changes.

Checking Television for Elves

2009-07-11T03:59:00.000-07:00

"they (CEOs) say that they work hard, and that in the process of working hard they make a lot of people a lot of money. (laughs) this is true of every worker in the country."

--Warren Buffet, more money than he can ever spend

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0407.turner.html

This is an essay by Ted Turner called "My Beef With Big Media". I want to cut out excerpts to make points, but I don't know what to cut; I think every single line is amazing and worthy of snipping. It's a deep lesson in Power and How it Works. If I took the name off, and changed all the pronouns from "I" and "we" to more neutral ones, I think the natural assumption would be that some major dissident, maybe Mike Albert of Z Mag or maybe Dr. Chomsky or Howard Zinn had written this. It's what they've been saying for something like 40 years. But it's not a dissident. It's a Player.

Here's a quote: "When media companies dominate their markets, it undercuts our democracy. Justice Hugo Black, in a landmark media-ownership case in 1945, wrote: ‘The First Amendment rests on the assumption that the widest possible dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources is essential to the welfare of the public.’

“These big companies are not antagonistic; they do billions of dollars in business with each other. They don't compete; they cooperate to inhibit competition. You and I have both felt the impact. I felt it in 1981, when CBS, NBC, and ABC all came together to try to keep CNN from covering the White House. You've felt the impact over the past two years, as you saw little news from ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, Fox, or CNN on the FCC's actions. In early 2003, the Pew Research Center found that 72 percent of Americans had heard "nothing at all" about the proposed FCC rule changes. Why? One never knows for sure, but it must have been clear to news directors that the more they covered this issue, the harder it would be for their corporate bosses to get the policy result they wanted."

That's the way the whole essay goes. It's a powerful person saying "This is how we do it. I did it, I did it because these are the rules I was left with and I was there to win, but I don't have to like it." Take it for what it’s worth.

"Naturally, corporations say they would never suppress speech. But it's not their intentions that matter; it's their capabilities. Consolidation gives them more power to tilt the news and cut important ideas out of the public debate. And it's precisely that power that the rules should prevent."

This isn't a conspiracy theory because it's not a secret. Just because we weren't there when it happened doesn't make it a secret.

"I freely admit: When I was in the media business, especially after the federal government changed the rules to favor large companies, I tried to sweep the board, and I came within one move of owning every link up and down the media chain. Yet I felt then, as I do now, that the government was not doing its job. The role of the government ought to be like the role of a referee in boxing, keeping the big guys from killing the little guys. If the little guy gets knocked down, the referee should send the big guy to his corner, count the little guy out, and then help him back up. But today the government has cast down its duty, and media competition is less like boxing and more like professional wrestling: The wrestler and the referee are both kicking the guy on the canvas."

Ted Turner calling for government, and society at large, to tilt towards protecting the weaker party? Woah. This guy's a freaky radical or something.

I want to paste the whole essay here but I won't. Let's move on.

Here's why I'm pissed off.

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/tv-internet-and-mobile-usage-in-us-continues-to-rise/

Americans watch 151 hours of tv a month. That's something like 5 hours a day. That's either a lie or it's a completely insane truth.

Just about every person I know, and know of, is getting paid for 8 hours and working 10, 12, 16, whatever. It's a testament to people that I never hear anyone complain. I mean people grimace, people sigh, but for the most part people feel it's what's left. And there's nowhere to go to at least get fairness. What they do end up doing is violently hating people who aren't renting out the only thing we got when we landed on this planet, Time.

And yet, try to have a discussion with anyone on the street about the issues of the day. People screw up their face into thinking mode, look into the distance, and make their voice sound like they're making a deep analysis - and then out comes something you could have heard out of any news program. People in the 'developed' world, exposed to heavy doses of television daily, believe they are making up answers even though what is actually happening could only be called Parroting.

And they'll say this to you, in this way, in an educational manner, even though they have to know you aren't hearing this for the first or hundredth time.

Something else can happen though if you give an opinion that isn't part of the Talking Point. People get red-faced and loud. Personal attacks ensue. Ask someone where they get their facts, and they honestly can't tell you, and that is confusing, and makes the threat coming from you seem more real. Pretty soon you are hearing, incredibly, the average wage-slave is now fully in defense of the rich and powerful.

Television's no joke folks. Stare at flashing lights for 3-8 hours a day, and it's insane to believe you aren't going to be hypnotized and brainwashed. This stuff will make you mental.

It would make sense for Ted Turner to protect what he has - but he doesn't. Neither does Warren Buffet. But ask the average person who, incredibly, believes there are such things as "Republicans" and "Democrats", or worse, identifies themselves as one (or worse, identifies themselves as a Republican), and they will come just short of wielding a weapon at you in defense of the Power System. This isn't because people are stupid, and we should stop calling each other stupid too by the way.

Well some people might be, I'm not going to deny the existence of stupid people today. Anyone checking out the insane pictures and titles on Sarcastic Bastard's blog would have to agree, through massive giggles, that some people are out-of-their-minds-stupid.

But a lot more people end up in that condition due to some pretty massive and serious deflection on the part of their employers and their government. Don't think about these uncomfortable subjects. Your friends aren't thinking about it. You want to be cool don't you? Cool like people on TV, right? People on TV aren't talking about these uncomfortable things, are they? Don't blow it - you could still avoid being a total loser in life!

And the insurance carrier, let's throw in those guys too. Michael Moore just sent out a mass email alerting people that Bill Moyers is conducting an interview with a high level officer for Cigna who is admitting that Cigna committed serious cash and time to defaming and slandering Michael Moore's "Sicko". The Cigna officer states that the movie is absolutely right on, and that insurance companies did whatever they could to counteract that unfortunate truth in the form of a massive media campaign.

So, yeah. Let's throw in those fucks in insurance too. Americans are not a cash crop goddamnit.

Piracy Is a Global Problem

2009-06-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

In the interest of clarity, I’d like to follow up on a point made by Lou, who commented that certainly this behavior isn’t only carried on by the United States. Lou is absolutely right.

The problem is a rich-poor problem. It is possibly at its worst in the US only because it runs rampant here, in a way it doesn’t get to do in other developed nations. And because they are so incredibly profitable that some of these corporations that make our laws have economies that qualify them to be in the top ten largest economies of the world - a list we would expect to normally be reserved only to countries.

But this is what globalization has long been about, so even if we could argue whether it ever was all about the United States or not (it wasn’t), today it is a global issue. The rich people of the world do as they please, and global policing of the poor ensures that it stays that way.

Consider that within the body of the Pirate Tales series, it was shown that there were foreign companies, for example, from Italy, committing crimes in Somali waters and that the Italian government apparently had to go to an international body to ask that Italian companies, too large to be regulated by Italy, be investigated.

Consider that Spain, known for being anarchist, artistic - and recently, for spearheading a major, semi-serious crusade to hold former US VP Dick Cheney, and former US Pres Bush, guilty of war crimes committed against Spanish citizens -

this same country has companies within it that participate happily in the the theft and destruction of poorer countries’ resources. A stunning article put out by Greenpeace only days after the Maersk-Alabama incident reads:

“As Somali pirates have captured the world’s attention over the past week, I’ve been up to my neck in pirates of a different sort. Greenpeace got a tip that several Spanish owned vessels blacklisted for engaging in pirate fishing were en route to Singapore to offload illegally caught Chilean sea bass, or Patagonian toothfish. We alerted U.S. authorities at NOAA, the Coast Guard, and the State Department, each of which deals with pirate fishing.”

This is within the week of the attack that captured the attention span of the nation. Within a week, Greenpeace was, yet again, sounding the call that the conditions which create chaos were still happening, and as Hocevar blogs for Greenpeace:

“The investigation is still unfolding, but it looks like at least one or two of the vessels offloaded a considerable amount of illegal sea bass before local authorities were able to respond. In fact, it is not clear that local authorities planned to respond at all – Singapore is not a party to CCAMLR, the Antarctic treaty under which the vessels were blacklisted.”

Reading this at the time, it was painfully obvious that some trickery, some skill, something, was being employed. The pirate craze, brief as it was, was so all-consuming, that for a brief period there were frantic ads all over the internet offering pirate-related merchandise - shirts, mugs, eyepatches, pictures of ‘wenches’. And yet somehow, in all this craze for everything-pirate, it was plain that stories written from the other point of view, stories showing the piracy perpetrated by major conglomerates, would be completely invisible. Somehow they just wouldn’t make it, even on the horizon, to the public’s attention.

“While these pirate fishing vessels may seem to have little connection with the pirates plaguing ships passing through the Gulf of Aden, these issues are in fact tied together by more than a word most of us associate with eye patches and parrots. In all oceans of the world, vessels flying under flags of convenience – registered to countries with little or no concern for what the ships are used for – and owned by shady operators based in countries such as Spain, China, or Korea, pirates illegally catch enormous quantities of fish.

“Somalia is a prime example of where pirate fishing thrives – a poor country with weak governance and no capacity to manage or patrol their own waters. And as is often the case, the most impacted people are local fishermen, who can no longer feed their families after foreign pirate fishermen have literally stolen all the fish. When deprived of their livelihoods, few breadwinners in any culture would be willing to quietly allow their families to starve. So it is not surprising that some have resorted to illegal activity. In addition to hijacking ships, unemployed fishermen in Ghana have been known to become wildlife poachers, adding new threats to already endangered populations of hippos, lions, and leopards.”

Yet another sad casualty of the chaos: endangered wildlife.

This isn’t something you’ll only find in regard to this story: many of the starving nations in Africa are in fact so hungry that they’ve started poaching the prized animals for food. The days of killing an elephant for the tusks are almost a thing of the past - now an elephant dies for lunch. As I learned in another documentary about vanishing wildlife in Africa, when you kill off an elephant you devastate the entire group. They live such close, intimate lives with each other, for all their lives, that the loss of one or two key figures can disrupt the group and further endanger the young.

It should be noted that the Greenpeace blogger goes to lengths to note that the United States has taken some positive steps, and has usually behaved helpfully in cases such as the one involving the Spanish vessels. Not that Greenpeace doesn’t have major problems with US leadership - but the US isn’t always the worst offender.

Unfortunately the US also has its share of the misery. The US is just as guilty of allowing foreign companies to use US ships in the commission of crimes. Loopholes purposely exist so that a ship can be said to contain “humanitarian” supplies, even though it may also contain a large weapons shipment. And, like so many of the countries involved, the US Gov’t. just doesn’t keep tabs on who is doing what. Just like Italy and Switzerland, the US has corporations around the planet behaving recklessly and disgracefully. When something goes wrong, the corporation goes to the government and demands protection, prosecution, revenge. The government will always, every single time, respond on behalf of the US Corporation. Without much information, they have to do this - and even then, they know enough to know that we all profit and benefit from the behavior of these corporations.

The Media - globally - is in the business of providing us with plausible deniability - each and every one of us. If we can say, as Gary K did, “This is the first I’m hearing of this!” then we can sleep easier and feel true outrage when the poor people we hurt finally flip out.

Recently, attorneys for a young man who was wrongfully imprisoned as a terrorist by the US sought to make President Obama aware of some of the facts in the case. The President, for legal reasons, is on a strict ‘need-to-know’ basis. When these attorneys filled him in on aspects of their case for which he had not already been made aware, the Justice Department seriously considered arresting the attorneys for precisely that. They go to all this trouble of presenting the President with only very carefully redacted (blacked-out) documentation, so that he can’t testify that he knew certain things. And then a couple of lawyers come in and blow the whole deal? They came very close - it may not even be over yet - to finding themselves in the same cell their client had recently vacated.

This is a haves vs have-nots problem. I try to describe it through the prism of the US for two reasons: 1) this is the country I live in and the best hope I have for change, and 2) because our outstanding wealth as a country, sadly, unfortunately, so often makes us investors in misery. It is so often US money that is either knowingly or unknowingly killing, starving, stealing from the poor. And it is so often true in the “unknowing” cases, as rare as they are, that someone in the US “knows” what is happening and remains silent out of greed. And 3) because our media is being used against us, and even if it is happening in France and Germany and Britain and Japan - it MUST NOT happen here any more if we can help it.

But no - this is not strictly a US issue. This is a world issue. As Hocevar blogs for Greenpeace:

“Yet another reminder that we live on Planet Ocean – and that the health of our marine ecosystems is intimately linked to the health of humankind.”

Checking Out Some Pirate Tales Part 15

2009-05-30T21:20:00.000-07:00

“I'm so damn glad the US shot those jerks, regardless of what some other pirates threaten. Of course they threaten to retaliate - that's the terrorist way. Keep shooting them until none are left.”

This is the final, parting shot from GaryK citizen, the prism from which we analyze the correct, created response to the events in Somalia by U.S. citizens.

Thus, we come to the crux of the message each of us receives, no matter how hidden it is: genocide. Kill them all. Drop the Bomb. Make the enemies’ homes a ‘parking lot’.

I know I’ve said things equally heinous in my life. I know I’ve heard old friends make such statements, as recently as weeks ago.

How did we all get this same message? How do we all get it, every day? It would be difficult to pinpoint a place where someone on television actually said “You will call for the deaths of entire societies. You will be most angry at the weak and powerless, and least angry at your oppressors.” Except for the modern news show, where supposedly upright and correct individuals in suits are encouraged to spout and yell whatever opinion comes to mind, so long as it is on message. On certain news channels it is quite common to hear a pundit opine that the very best thing we can do is "wipe them out".

This is the question I started this all with: How do illogical, frightening, contradictory opinions - the SAME illogical, frightening, contradictory opinions, seem to reach the dominant majority of the public all at the same time? It is one thing to find a faction that believes the same; none of us would be too surprised at the sameness of violent opinion we encountered at a KKK office.

But this is not the same thing. People from all walks, races, religions, creeds, have their heads full of the most startling memes. It isn't one person spreading it, it isn't two. It only starts that way.

(From Oxford’s: meme |mēm| noun Biology - an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, esp. imitation.

DERIVATIVES memetic |mēˈmetik; mə-| adjective

ORIGIN 1970s: from Greek mimēma ‘that which is imitated,’ on the pattern of gene.

People who discuss memetics frequently speak in terms of an idea that moves like a virus)

How do these mass idea-infections come about? I simply refuse to believe it is because so many people are inherently “bad” or “stupid”. I just don’t believe there are so many genetic differences among us. Something sets people off like a light switch. I have a strong suspicion, or a few of them, as to what is the switch and who is controlling it.

There was a time when so very many people were scandalized by the notion of the abolishment of slavery. Even their enraged opponents, who detested the practice of slavery, were still just as scandalized by the idea of Free Blacks living, working and roaming amongst whites, as equals. Abraham Lincoln himself couldn’t even imagine it, and tried frequently to push for deportation of blacks - even to the point of experimental colonization of blacks to other territories in South America and Haiti.

And yet, somehow here we are, and the vast majority of people are probably deficient of sufficient imagination to visualize themselves participating in an actual slave society.

Similarly, the vast majority of people seem unable to imagine that there is any background to the ‘pirate’ story that might mitigate the shocking news television, print, and radio have blared out for a month now. Even though alternative press outlets have been nearly exhausted trying to get the story out. To no avail. The vast majority is firmly entrenched in a “GaryK”ness from which they will not easily be dragged, even kicking and screaming.

Checking Out Some Pirate Tales Part 14

2009-05-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

Let’s move on.

GaryK continues, saying “Somalia should go to the UN or somebody to take care of their problem, not resort to barbarism.”

Naturally. GaryK has the right idea. If only GaryK possessed information and education. Which is the thrust of my problem with American Mass Media.

As we have seen quite clearly: it is in fact the UN who has reported the issues, and who has in fact made the complaints. The report I linked has pictures, of containers and communities and people. The UN in fact went to Somalia to try and deal with the problem. The UN published reports, decent ones, attempting to document the situation and alert... someone. So, Now What?

And- not to beat up too strongly on an obviously confused and distracted Gary K Citizen, but- communities don’t usually just ‘resort to barbarism’. 'Barbarism' is really a condition thrust on people. By now, generations of Somalis have lived under the most hideous conditions, begun by Imperial powers, continued by Imperial powers and then by Somalia’s own inability to rebuild any kind of society from the ashes of their history, due to dire poverty and war.

Yes, we could say it is up to Somalia to “stop fighting and figure out what to do” or something equally dismissive; but then we could easily wave a hand at every Western citizen and say “it was all your fault you didn’t know anything.” And frankly, if it was that easy to divert a human being’s natural intelligence, advertising and propaganda would not be the multi billion dollar industries they are, and neither would Sports.

The fact is that it takes a lot to make a person believe that politics and economics are “none of your business.” It takes a few trillion dollars a year, in television technology, advertisement, Pentagon crafting of message, tax incentives to sports franchises to build stadiums, more advertisement, on and on and on ad infinitum, for every wonderful, colorful distraction that keeps people from using their massive, natural intelligence, the brain with which each of us was gifted, towards knowing what is happening to us, and who is doing it.

And instead: to give the brain so many non-threatening (to Power) avenues for exercise, like the universe of Sports Statistics. This is a feat of stupendous ability to redirect the public’s wealth against them. The common person might display near-obvious stupidity on matters of banking, finance, or politics - but just guide the discussion to Baseball and you might hear a galaxy of statistical knowledge and invention that might make a physicist blush.

Go ahead and check it out for yourself. These are just the stats for one sport, Baseball. Read it and ask yourself how it is that this is the way a single sport is tracked, and yet stunningly almost no one knew that President Obama was lying about his campaign finance during the election.

Checking Out Some Pirate Tales Part 13

2009-05-20T17:43:00.000-07:00

So far we have only addressed two of GaryK’s sentences.

“Alleged environmental crimes by the EU do not justify terrorism.”

This is an interesting point because of course, it is going to stay alleged. The table tilts precariously to the powerful, and it is going to stay that way.

It is interesting when common people jump to the defense of the rich and powerful elite, rather than finally allowing the holders of All The Money to just speak for themselves, and account for their actions. Any fan of the film “The Matrix” would have to at least chuckle at the readiness of the average person to rabidly transform into Agent Smith at the slightest provocation, and absorb any bullet aimed at the elite onto, into, themselves.

Certainly, if alleged crimes do not justify retaliation, it must be said in the interest of fairness that nothing at all justified the brazen, deplorable treatment of the Somali people by Corporate and Political Elite powers. Let’s clarify here, though, that no government has actually come out and sanctioned or endorsed these criminal activities by Wealthy Pirates. This is not the European Union exactly that propagated this; it is the corporate powers that for some reason have been allowed to achieve equal status and power to the Union, that must be - and will not be - hunted to the ends of the Earth for redress.

Let us also point out here that this is not an issue of “terrorism”.

There is a very important difference; terrorists are not in business to negotiate. They have moved well beyond the graded progression of asking for, demanding, or taking what they want or need. They are in the no-negotiation territory of pure, violent resistance. By the time a terrorist has made his or her presence known, everyone in the vicinity is likely dead.

http://www.defenselink.mil/News/newsarticle.aspx?id=52969

In an article on the US Department of Defense’s news site, titled:

“Pirate Hijacking Resolved Peacefully”

Pentagon Spokesman Bryce Whitman noted that pirate attacks, the kind propagated by the weak against the strong, while illegal and troubling, did in fact have a silver lining:

“But, I guess if there’s any silver lining,” Whitman continued, “it’s that in most of these cases to date, [the] crews have ultimately been released unharmed.”

It’s an important distinction. If you negotiate with pirates and pay what they see as their ‘toll’, everyone most likely goes home to their families and friends.

It is also an important distinction because this report was issued in February of this year, 2 months before the media explosion surrounding the Maersk-Alabama and Captain Phillips.

And because very likely this game has changed thanks to the three clean headshots by Navy SEALS killing three 17 year old Somali pirates. The pirate leadership has sworn revenge, and there is real, justified concern now that the pirates will make good on their threat that “any American crew is as good as dead.”

Let’s move on.

Checking Out Some Pirate Tales Part 12

2009-05-19T17:59:00.001-07:00

We left off by analyzing a comment by GaryK to Mother Jones magazine online, in which Mother Jones was attempting to broach the subject of a backstory in regards to the Somalian attacks against vessels traveling through the Gulf of Aden.

"Two wrongs do not make a right. This is the first I've heard of such claims. Alleged environmental crimes by the EU do not justify terrorism. Somalia should go to the UN or somebody to take care of their problem, not resort to barbarism.

"I'm so damn glad the US shot those jerks, regardless of what some other pirates threaten. Of course they threaten to retaliate - that's the terrorist way. Keep shooting them until none are left."

As stated in the last article, the fascinating thing about this particular comment is how representative it is for such a large number of people. It could almost have been constructed artificially, because it manages to cover so many important, separate, conflicting pieces of logic at once, logic that an astounding number of people buy into and support. For so many minds to misfire in the same way and at the same time is extremely suspect; for them to misfire illogically in a way that is extremely beneficial to the power structure is an amazing success, a coup, for power. None of these ideas even barely resemble common sense. They are quite uncommon, and yet are held by most of the 'common' people. Something is at work for this to happen.

As GaryK voices for an astonishing number of citizens of the developed world: we must penalize the powerless, first and foremost. We must keep the world perilously tilted in favor of the obscenely wealthy, and continue to assign ourselves more and more of the world’s resources. We must live under one set of rules: Whatever favors ‘us’ and whatever destroys ‘them’. GaryK is quite correct: it isn’t ‘wrongs’ that make rights; it is military power, and economic bludgeoning that gives us our ‘rights’.

We could discuss this one sentence for days, but let’s move on.

Gary presents us with another quite common sentiment for disregarding equality and justice out of hand. It has to be regarded as startling, if only because Gary does not stop long enough to wonder how this next condition came to pass:

“This is the first I’ve heard of such claims.”

Indeed. Indeed. This very reality is of paramount importance. This has to be studied, and truly digested.

It is a bitter pill for the majority of us to truly accept and swallow that our media isn’t broken, by any means; it is functioning correctly, operating at a high level, in favor of those who pay for it, the wealthy political and corporate elite.

If I could use myself as an example, I would say that GaryK is about 5 years from a very shocking transformation. There was a point in time when I too, your humble narrator, was indignant with those who claimed all kinds of ‘special knowledge’ about world events.

If these conspiracy theories were all true; if Iraq was not in fact secretly planning, and quite capable of, destroying the ‘free’ world - why had I heard repeatedly on reputable networks like CNN that this was exactly what Iraq was up to?

Why was Colin Powell insisting it?

Surely a man with his lengthy career in the field of Service, Honor and Duty would not blatantly lie.

Surely if there was another side to the story I would have seen this blared out of CNN. Possibly MSNBC, or any one of the major news networks I watched desperately for critical information. Surely one of the large print journals I devoured would lead me to one of these alternative truths?

At the time I dismissed these possibilities out of hand, and did what most Americans do: call for the deaths of large swaths of foreign populations.

GaryK has hit on the thrust of this project at Checking For Elves: why are the Mass Media outlets almost completely devoid of real background on these stories?

Why did even Stewart and Rachel Maddow spend days glowingly talking about how “exciting” “awesome” and “cool” the Navy SEALS were and how excellent it was that these ‘pirates’ were wiped out? I still hold out hope that Stewart was kidding, although I have, personally, yet to see any work done by his team to show the other side of the Somalia story.

Perhaps, as a comedy show, they rightly feel it is a bit much to depend on them to step outside their main purpose of entertainment and be completely responsible for taking on the entire Mass Media Establishment.

I would tend to agree with them.

So, it must be reasoned that they do what they can, but even they cannot address issues that require this much background; issues on which there is such an enormous gap between the public’s understanding, and the truth.

It has to be seen as unfair to continue to place the entire responsibility - for making even a limited-sized audience want a functioning media, and a functioning democracy - at the feet of The Daily Show. The funding keeping the Western audiences distracted is massive. It is also provided by that same public.

But let’s move on.

Checking Out Some Pirate Tales Part 11

2009-05-18T17:14:00.000-07:00

The excellent reporting by Al Jazeera goes on to state that Swiss and Italian companies ‘negotiated’ such contracts in 1992. Their respective governments - in a shocking display of powerlessness - requested that the UN investigate the moves. The names of the companies were Achair, and Progresso, respectively. All parties, including the Somali minister accused of making the deals, denied it all.

Further investigation revealed these to be ‘dummy’, or shell, fake corporations set up by much larger firms, to handle this kind of nasty business.

But one curious, logical fact remains, pointed out by the solid reporters at Al Jazeera in this quoted bit:

“Abdi Ismail Samatar, professor of Geography at the University of Minnesota, told Al Jazeera that because an international coalition of warships has been deployed to the Gulf of Aden, the alleged dumping of waste must have been observed.”

No one, no westerner, will ever answer for this. There will be no jail time for the real pirates. They will not lose their lives by firing squad, as impoverished Somali pirates do.

But if someone were so inclined, there are a great deal of on-site witnesses who could provide an excellent start to any investigation.

Now before I continue, I’d like to address common complaints about this view of the world.

When Mother Jones recently printed an article presenting facts similar to the ones presented here, and the ones I am about to continue presenting, commenter “GaryK” responded in terms quite representative of many in the US (and others around the world, but I’m concerned with my countrymen at the moment):

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/04/somali-piratesenvironmental-warriors

Baloney!

Submitted by Gary K on April 14, 2009 - 11:09am.

Two wrongs do not make a right. This is the first I've heard of such claims. Alleged environmental crimes by the EU do not justify terrorism. Somalia should go to the UN or somebody to take care of their problem, not resort to barbarism.

I'm so damn glad the US shot those jerks, regardless of what some other pirates threaten. Of course they threaten to retaliate - that's the terrorist way. Keep shooting them until none are left.

This doesn’t really require deep analysis, as on its face the ignorance and hate attached to the comment speaks for itself. But in the interest of showing the dogmatic belief of the public that their leadership is generally right, and in the interest of showing that it is a special and note-worthy accomplishment of wealthy governments when tens, possibly hundreds of millions in the general population can be made to believe exactly the same set of contradictory and erroneous logic, let’s take a slightly deeper look at the rationale expressed here.

“Two wrongs do not make a right.”

That is beyond question. Nothing makes a ‘wrong’ a ‘right’. The question when sorting out messes of this order of magnitude is, which wrongs are we going to correct. Which wrongs need to be penalized. And... to quote the same age group in which we learn about ‘wrongs’ and ‘rights’ canceling each other or not - Who started it?

Checking Out Some Pirate Tales Part 10

2009-05-17T23:08:00.000-07:00

The UN report goes on to address the chain of events that lead to the discovery of the problem. I strongly urge, as with the Arcadia report, that readers examine the report for themselves because it is incredibly educational and well written.

To paraphrase the story, from this UN report and other reporting on the subject, the day after Christmas, 2004, Somalia was hit by a tsunami. Walls of water hit the beaches and communities, and created huge medical emergencies as well as, obviously, massive homelessness.

The strange leaking canisters washed ashore with the powerful waves. Over the weeks and months that followed, the already demolished, impoverished people began to complain of illnesses. Strange ones.

As the UN envoy to Somalia reported to Al-Jazeera:

“‘Somalia has been used as a dumping ground for hazardous waste starting in the early 1990s, and continuing through the civil war there,’ he said.

“‘European companies found it to be very cheap to get rid of the waste, costing as little as $2.50 a tonne, where waste disposal costs in Europe are something like $1000 a tonne.

“Nuttall also said that since the containers came ashore, hundreds of residents have fallen ill, suffering from mouth and abdominal bleeding, skin infections and other ailments.

" ‘We [the UNEP] had planned to do a proper, in-depth scientific assessment on the magnitude of the problem. But because of the high levels of insecurity onshore and off the Somali coast, we are unable to carry out an accurate assessment of the extent of the problem,’ he said.

“However, Ould-Abdallah claims the practice still continues.

‘What is most alarming here is that nuclear waste is being dumped. Radioactive uranium waste that is potentially killing Somalis and completely destroying the ocean,’ he said.”

This isn’t just some radical hippie, or some far left activist group saying this now; this is an envoy to the UN using the phrase “destroying the ocean.”

Remarkable.

Naturally, as much as the UN would love to get in and make assessments, many of the residents of Somalia have absolutely no interest, or trust, in foreigners coming to their country to ‘help’. Not anymore.

Clearly it is an amazing feat that companies could - to use the word most commonly associated with pirates - brazenly continue to dump illegal, hazardous, destructive wastes on a people who have done nothing to them, who are completely powerless and completely devastated. Most criminals would only return to the scene of the crime under serious duress, and then only to commit a cover-up of the events.

Certainly no criminal would return to the scene of a massive crime, a geological disaster, only in order to continue committing it.

But there is an excellent reason this continues: they are not criminals if they in fact get to make the laws, get to pay the lawmakers and enforcers, and get to dangle the rights to home, food, medicine, and education over the other 99% of the population.

Even the outraged UN envoy, the man on the scene, knew exactly how far he could go in his outrage:

“Ould-Abdallah declined to name which companies are involved in waste dumping, citing legal reasons.”

This has to be viewed by any proponent of the rich and powerful elite as a major victory. Geological, nearly genocidal crimes committed, and absolutely anyone with any standing terrified to mention names. And of course without names there are no official criminals.

“But he did say the practice helps fuel the 18-year-old civil war in Somalia as companies are paying Somali government ministers to dump their waste, or to secure licenses and contracts.

"’There is no government control ... and there are few people with high moral ground ... [and] yes, people in high positions are being paid off, but because of the fragility of the TFG [Transitional Federal Government], some of these companies now no longer ask the authorities – they simply dump their waste and leave.’

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2008/10/2008109174223218644.html

It would be difficult for any normal person to receive this kind of news and stay calm. To restrain the outpouring of outrage. It is difficult for me, and I am thousands of miles away, and am in fact a beneficiary of my country’s policies towards the Least Developed Nations.

I confess I don’t even have the imagination large enough, capable enough, to imagine what my reaction would be if my home were anywhere in Africa, let alone Somalia itself.

Checking Out Some Pirate Tales Part 9

2009-05-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

Let’s move on.

There is a second abuse committed by rich pirates against the desperate peasant population in Somalia. I would like to direct attention to a UN report on the subject:

In this report (which I urge everyone to read in its entirety), as well as documenting the abuse by Developed World Pirates on the devastated population of Somalia through abusive and illegal fishing practices, they broach another important issue; illegal dumping of hazardous materials in Somali waters:

“Somali waters have a high potential for fishing. As a result, the Fisheries and Marine Resources Minister has indicated that a study by his ministry had shown a large number of foreign vessels illegally fishing in Somali waters and serious pollution caused by vessels discharging toxic waste. Heavily armed foreign boats have often tried to exploit the breakdown of law and order in Somalia since the overthrow of President Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991 by fishing in the rich Somali waters, thus depriving coastal communities of resources. However, there has not yet been any fish stock assessment undertaken for the country to enhance better management decisions for the efficient utilization of this resource.”

Incredible.

But it’s not the whole story yet. It is important to note that:

“Somalia is one of the many Least Developed Countries that reportedly received countless shipments of illegal nuclear and toxic waste dumped along the coastline. Starting from the early 1980s and continuing into the civil war, the hazardous waste dumped along Somalia’s coast comprised uranium radioactive waste, lead, cadmium, mercury, industrial, hospital, chemical, leather treatment and other toxic waste. Most of the waste was simply dumped on the beaches in containers and disposable leaking barrels which ranged from small to big tanks without regard to the health of the local population and any environmentally devastating impacts.

“The issue of dumping in Somalia is contentious as it raises both legal and moral questions. First, there is a violation of international treaties in the export of hazardous waste to Somalia. Second, it is ethically questionable to negotiate a hazardous waste disposal contract with a country in the midst of a protracted civil war and with a factionalized government that could not sustain a functional legal and proper waste management system.”

Remember: this is a Somalia we have learned was completely unable to provide basic services. Infrastructure had not only been discontinued but actually sold off. How on Earth someone could claim to have ‘negotiated’ with anyone in charge in that place is beyond the realm of reason. It would be like claiming to have negotiated with someone in charge of, and during, a full-scale riot.

The results of the negotiations, according to this report to the UN, amounted to a very favorable deal for the Western Pirates - which under capitalist law must be pursued even in such a case as this, and must be accepted, lest the shareholders revolt at the knowledge that every means towards profit had not been pursued. As noted earlier, it is a very convenient system devised to ensure that no one can ever be held at fault.

No one except the impoverished outsiders to the system.

The very favorable results of the ‘negotiations’ were:

“Reportedly, some European firms are known to be engaged in the business of dumping hazardous waste in Africa. The primary cause of this is cost. It has been estimated that it costs as little as $2.50 per tonne to dump hazardous waste in Africa as opposed to $250 per tonne in Europe."

In a later interview, the UN envoy raised the estimate for dumping in Europe to "$1000 per tonne."

If you are a resident of the West, as I am, this must not depress or outrage you; this is being done in your behalf, and it must thrill you, swell your heart with pride, that your social planners believe so strongly that your life, and the life of people who dress and eat and look like you, are 100 times, and more, much, much more valuable than the lives of outsiders and their children.

Another UN report on conditions in Somalia can be found here. Again, this is not meant to induce depression or outrage. This is all, all of it, being done on our behalf supposedly. We are certainly beneficiaries of such policies, except for the fact that our fish is being pirated for us from waters that are at least mildly tainted with nuclear waste. That might be worth a letter to an editor of the New York Times. Otherwise, this is all good news.

Checking Out Some Pirate Tales Part 8

2009-05-14T00:29:00.000-07:00

So in 2007, a report to the Arcadia Fund highlighted the problems with the world’s fish stocks. And they just happened to mention Somalia specifically, and they happened to mention Pirates - only they didn’t mean Somalis. It meant the crass wealthy types who steal food from devastated people.

This is nothing new in the methods the wealthy elite use for controlling the poorer masses. A similar example can be seen from Microsoft, the software giant, who is allowed to create not only the technology to combat piracy, but also the urgency surrounding the need to combat piracy. And yet, absurdly, Microsoft has been found guilty of software piracy numerous times in its past.

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2118681/microsoft-convicted-software-piracy

and here:

http://www.diaplous.org/nanterre.htm

It is important to note that one of these articles is not only a discussion of the Nanterre case in which Microsoft abused and stole from a very small software maker, then abused the court system to prolong and nearly bankrupt the plaintiff - it is also about the author’s puzzlement at the complete lack of media coverage of the event. The only reason it came out is because a Peruvian politician mentioned it in a letter promoting the values of open-source technology.

Perhaps even more ironic and absurd, depending on how you feel about irony, is that as little as a month ago a 6 year case in which a small software company was suing Microsoft for piracy finally concluded in a huge guilty verdict against Microsoft. The software in question: Microsoft was attempting to steal piracy-combating software from a company named Uniloc. Their defense was they didn’t think Uniloc’s patent was any good. So they took it upon themselves to act on that unilaterally. It didn’t work out.

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/news.phtml/23476/microsoft-guilty-uniloc-patent-infringement.phtml

This next link is a deeper discussion of that story from a site actually called Microsoft-Watch. Because, yes, Microsoft has long reached the point that requires activism.

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/corporate/microsoft_antipiracy_technology_is_patent_thief.html

There is the outrageous case of Microsoft purposely sabotaging Apple Computer’s Quicktime for PCs. For years PC users thought there was something decidedly wrong with Apple’s programming. It turned out Quicktime was actually a powerful, beautifully programmed bit of software that went far beyond Windows Media; it was not just a player, it was an integral part of video creation. The case went to court and Microsoft had to back off.

http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f2000/2093.htm

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q1.07/5F0C866C-6DDF-4A9A-9515-531B0CA0C29C.html

Microsoft, unable to allow any kind of competition, even if the competing software isn’t used for the same thing, diabolically sabotaged the way Quicktime worked on all of their client PCs.

This isn’t even going into Microsoft’s plain abuses of monopoly, for which it has been found guilty both at home by the United States Dept. of Justice, and by the European Union.

So, why devolve and digress the discussion into this other kind of piracy?

Because, much like terrorism, piracy is about jingoism. It is powerful word-attack designed to frighten and confuse, and it only works in one direction. The rich and powerful get to label the resistance ‘terrorism’; they get to label foreign resistance to their policies ‘insurgency’. These words do not apply when the rich and powerful enter foreign lands and decide who lives and dies. The labels don’t apply when the rich and powerful fire-bomb and foment revolution in foreign lands, even to the point of assassination of foreign democratically elected leadership.

And best of all, the rich and powerful determine who and what constitutes “Piracy.” It matters not that the rich and powerful behave even more reprehensibly. They have a substantial base of capital; they are the bosses; they dangle the right to food, shelter and medicine before the other 99% of the population; they have substantial ownership over the mass media. And so even though every alternative news site in the world may scream about the injustice, it will not make it to the evening television news, and thus the masses will not hear of it. And many citizens will continue to clamor for the deaths of mass numbers of weak and powerless peasants.

Checking Out Some Pirate Tales Part 7

2009-05-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

Let’s get back to the Arcadia Report, which was in the process of educating us on what is mystifyingly a very well kept secret about the abuse of fishing.

Unfair fishing

Western fisheries are starting to exploit waters around developing countries (especially in the Pacific), instead of addressing their own depleted fish stocks. This not only depletes and ruins the oceans but also takes advantage of developing countries. The economic return for developing countries from access fees and licenses is a mere 5% (or less) of the US$2 billion that the fish

is worth on the market.

So, to put it politely, but broadly, Western fisheries are exploiting waters around developing countries. Instead of addressing their own problems, Western capitalism, which has a quota and a three month deadline, is just going to move out and abuse the poor. Not only does it ruin the ocean... what an extraordinary statement. Not only does it ruin The Ocean... but it takes advantage of developing countries.

I have no problem with someone scoffing at the notion that humans are ‘ruining’ the ocean. It’s a big ocean, it’s a big planet. So this might be hyperbole.

But certainly humans can’t fish the entire ocean. There are only certain depths and locations available to us.

And even if we privileged members of the West are able to create technologies that take us beyond these depths and locales... this does nothing for the poor. And I’m, personally, a great believer in the mythical ideal of equality. I personally believe good people must tilt towards the powerless, instead of constantly tilting the table towards our own mouths. Let’s move on to my favorite entry, and one directly relating to our subject.

Pirate fishing

Pirate fishing exploits costal communities from the South pacific to West Africa, by stealing fish and selling it to European and Asian markets. Somalia, for example, loses US$300 million a year to pirates, while developing countries globally lose more than US$4 billion a year. In 2002, Greenpeace estimated there were at least 1,300 industrial scale pirate ships at sea.

Naturally they also cause the same environmental problems as legal ships, and often more, because they ignore regulations.

I want the record to show clearly and unequivocally that in this instance the report is not referring to the desperately poor Somalis when they use the word “Pirate”.

“Pirate” means the foul, despicable, wealthy capitalists who steal food from the mouths of the poor.

And this is a report that came out in 2007. Way too late to the party - and yet it has been available for two years. Nary a peep from mass media.

That’s just one report. I found it. I imagine anyone could. I certainly don’t expect an overworked and underpaid public to know to go looking for this - but I certainly expect what passes for “Media” to have this.

Of course, my opinion is that this isn’t a matter of incompetence or accident. It is purposeful. Of course CNN knows this is out there. Of course someone at NBC has read this, or any of the myriad reports. Those people, who may have cared once, who have read these reports, don’t make these decisions, and in order to get along, get paid, get promoted, they must buy in completely to the company’s thinking.

The thinking is, quite conveniently, that this “system” by which they must live, the commercial driven system, simply does not allow the time to give this kind of background. It doesn’t sell. It doesn’t get to what excites audiences.

It is a convenient argument. Set up a system; make it one that cannot possibly allow statements that aren’t easily explained in 3 minutes; and then shrug and say “It’s not me, it’s the system. I’d love to explain away, and give background on every story. But the system doesn’t let me.”

Say that "the Somalis are evil, foul pirates, capturing ships laden with food for the relief of the very poor Somalis" and you don't have to explain a thing. Everyone on the show nods and chimes in: "absolutely!" "This is such a terrible story Roger, thanks for covering it." "Fortunately the President is involving private contractors in the situation over there." "Oh that's just great Roger." "I love you Cindy." "I love you too Roger."

Instead, just try saying "The Western Nations are evil, foul pirates, stealing food from the mouths of the very poor Somalis, callously dumping nuclear waste on a people that are already devastated and have never done them harm", and you suddenly have a lot of confused faces. These people are going to sputter and pretend to gather up their blank sheets of paper, the props used to make Roger an Cindy look like they can read.

They are going to commercial as quickly as possible to end 'your turn' so that when we come back from commercial the host has the clear right of way to begin speaking again. Meanwhile the audience is saying "What did that idiot just say?!? What was he talking about? You can't just say that and run, come back and tell me what the hell your argument is!"

And it is too late. Your face is going to be on every right wing, and possibly some 'left' wing, newsletters calling you a dangerous crackpot. Even a majority of what passes for 'the left' will denounce you as craven and stupid for 'apologizing for' or 'dismissing' what the Somalis do in their form of piracy. Even if what you said is true, and I have read this already enough times - even if the 'left' acknowledge that what you said may or may not be true, "we don't know either way", you will be denounced for trying to soften the view against Somalia.

It will never come up that every mainstream news outlet constantly dismisses the form of piracy and just plain old abuse perpetrated by those with all the money and power.

Checking Out Some Pirate Tales Part 6

2009-05-12T21:07:00.000-07:00

If you dare to speak to a fisherman about fishing, you may get an earful; sometimes an angry one. Fisherman take great pride, feel very special, in their accumulation of knowledge. Just knowing the different kinds of nets is enough to make one feel like he has the special right to speak on the subject, at the exclusion of everyone. From Mr. Sarah Palin, who has been quoted as being very proud of his fishing knowledge, to the great tradition upheld in Iceland, where fishermen speak of themselves almost as a different breed of people, these are ancient techniques, closely guarded, very proudly upheld.

It is a wonder then, that techniques like those outlined in the Arcadia report could actually be practiced:

Bottom-trawling

Bottom trawling involves dragging large, heavy nets along the sea floor, bulldozing the area where there is most biodiversity. It is used to catch shrimp, cod, haddock, scallop and other species. Evidence indicates that deep- water species are very slow to recover from trawling damage, if they recover at all. Since sea-beds are largely unexplored, Greenpeace compares bottom trawling to “blowing up Mars before we get there”.

Imagine it; taking a rough, heavy net, and literally scraping the sea floor so that not only are all the delicate creatures hewn away, but so too is the habitat itself. Not only are the potential parents and offspring gobbled, the ability to possibly recover is wiped out.

Dirty fishing (bycatch)

This is the incidental capture of mammals, seabirds, turtles, sharks and other species by fishing techniques including types of netting and long-line fishing. According to Greenpeace, anywhere between 8% and 25% of total global catch is discarded. The scale of this mortality is such that bycatch in some fisheries disrupts the structure and function of whole marine ecosystems. Thus dirty fishing is widely recognised as one of the most serious threats to marine life caused by fisheries.

By now it has to be hoped that most of us have heard of this practice: negligently tossing nets into the ocean - huge, insanely huge nets - and pretty much anything in the area is crushed within the grasp, and dropped into the boat. Possibly some of what wasn’t supposed to be caught is thrown back, dead. Possibly it just gets thrown in with the rest, chopped up and fed to us.

Dolphins are one particular victim; recently, reports are circulating that entire species of sharks are either gone, or close to it, thanks to this practice, as well as overfishing, which destroys the balance of nature. This is also an old story, and for some reason one that still goes on.

Over-fishing

Each year, commercial fishing worldwide wastes more than 16 billion pounds of fish. EU subsidies are one of the biggest drivers of over-fishing, amounting to at least US$30 billion annually, or 40% of the value of the world’s fish catch. At least $20 billion of these subsidies (e.g. fuel subsidies) drive overcapacity. Over-fishing is especially problematic for certain species, including whales, tuna, and sharks, which are being fished to extinction, and in turn creating unbalanced ecosystems.

Over-fishing is particularly disturbing because it is so premeditated. While the previous two problematic results could be defended as ‘accidental’, over-fishing begins with a very capitalistic, narrow view that nothing matters except quota and profit. Again - talk to any career fisherman and you’ll find they are a very proud lot, proud of their extensive knowledge. So the connection has to be made that they know before they set out to sea that this is wrong. Of course blaming the fisherman for what his capitalistic boss, or what capitalism in general, demands, is narrow and short-sighted. It is like blaming the small pox, or the blanket, for killing the Indigenous Americans instead of the white people who gave it to them. The only slight difference is that small pox and blankets don’t know any better.

Fish farming

Fish farming is often no less destructive or unsustainable than conventional fishing. Fish farms vacuum the oceans for oily fish to feed their stock, shoot or trap predator mammals such as whales and seals to protect their stock, and spread fish waste and disease to surrounding ecosystems. Shrimp farming is one of the biggest culprits since it also desolates tropical coastlines, clearing mangrove forests to make space for its activities.

It is important to note that last sentence, before I forget: Mangrove forests. That comes up later in a UN report about Somalia. Mangrove forests are crucial to the eco-systems in which they live.

It isn’t a big surprise that fish farming is harmful and destructive. Capitalistic enterprise knows no restraint; read the work of any of the ‘great’ architects of free markets, like Friedman, and they strenuously caution us NOT to expect anything humanistic or sensitive out of capitalism. Capitalism is a Great Game, a battle, a system of winners and losers. And results are expected every three months.

It is no different than regular farming and ranching; in no time at all the numbers of product must explode. This requires what passes for ‘science’. Antibiotics, genetic engineering, bizarre feeding practices that don’t resemble anything the animals would eat naturally. Pretty soon we have cows that drop dead in four years, barely making it to the slaughter house. We have swine flus and mad cows. We have entire areas completely unlivable by humans because of the kind of smell that would have to qualify as eco-terrorism. Personally, I can tell you that it is a very unpleasant drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco because there is a factory farm on the way, and the stench is enough to qualify as a natural disaster. No people live within miles of the farm. None could.

From that, it is a short jump to animal waste running into our waters, with all the antibiotics, steroids and hormones receiving massive dispersal into the human population. All of this massively documented. It is estimated that 70% of all antibiotics (which the public is told it must begin using sparingly because of the creation of resistant bacteria and viruses) are in fact given to livestock.

http://www.sierraclub.org/factoryfarms/factsheets/antibiotics.asp

http://www.nutritionecology.org/panel3/intro.html

As the Union of Concerned Scientists wrote in the above report, in an attempt to guide law-making to some, any, measure of ‘green’ responsibilty:

“Pass legislation to address overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture – Livestock producers use an estimated 70% of all antibiotics and related drugs produced in the United States for nontherapeutic purposes such as accelerating animal growth and routine disease prevention.

Mounting scientific evidence shows that this routine feeding of antibiotics to farm animals that are not sick promotes development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can be transferred to people, making it harder to treat bacterial infections in humans. Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections, for example, are a significant public health threat; what many people do not know is that in Europe MRSA has been traced to pigs and may be present in U.S. livestock.”

It can’t be, or shouldn’t be, a huge surprise that when farming mixes with fishing, the results would be about the same. But let’s move on. Let’s get back to the Arcadia Report, which was in the process of educating us on what is mystifyingly a very well kept secret about the abuse of fishing.

A seafood selector from the Environmental Defense Fund:

http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1521

Checking Out Some Pirate Tales Part 5

2009-05-12T01:46:00.000-07:00

Here is where the process of Mass Media begins to seem mystifying.

As I stated at the beginning of this series: for people who were aware of the problems in Somalia, the explosion of coverage surrounding the Maersk-Alabama’s takeover would have to have seemed like a long-overdue, welcome boon. Finally, the world would see, and perhaps public outcry might begin a very necessary healing in the region.

Instead, what happened is the exact opposite. Public outcry has targeted the desperately poor, desperately powerless. This is right in line with history, however, and any other expectation would have to be viewed politely as naive.

The facts are: as the developed world has increasingly over-fished its sea-beds, they have gradually destroyed not only entire species, but even the ability for recovery.

Just one of these fishing tankers is so enormous that I was shocked looking at a picture of it. The size of their catch looks about enough to decimate the population of an entire marine eco-system. The picture above isn't the only one available, it is just my favorite at the moment. But there are other mildly terrifying snaps taken of trawlers that boggle the mind.

Here is a report to the Arcadia Fund that attempts to assess the damage, and causes of damage, to fisheries around the world:

http://www.arcadiafund.org.uk/images/grants/reportMarineconservation.pdf

An excerpt under “Key Issues” reads:

"Marine conservation is both urgently needed and under-funded. There is a convincing argument that ocean life is imminently threatened. A number of studies point to serious declines in marine life globally and to large-scale obliteration of its habitats. This has led the Oceana to predict that there is a 20-year window to prevent collapse. Yet marine conservation receives a fraction of green grants as compared to its terrestrial cousin. An Arcadia grant in this field therefore presents an opportunity to have a considerable impact, and make a substantial difference."

Another section reads:

"The fishing industry is easily the biggest cause of marine destruction at the moment, (with climate change perhaps being the biggest threat for the future)."

Problems

The biggest problems are caused by destructive fishing:

• bottom-trawling (destructive of the undersea habitat)

• dirty fishing (discarding unwanted species caught in nets)

• over-fishing

• unfair fishing

• fish farming

*pirate fishing

*Pirate fishing is the most intriguing bullet point.

Checking Out Some Pirate Tales part 4

2009-05-11T00:18:00.000-07:00

Somalia was largely winning the war against Ethiopia until the intervention by the Soviet Union and its client state Cuba, on behalf of the Ethiopian military junta. Somalia’s military was decimated. Somalia tried to enlist the United States for aid, but Carter, seeing serious problems in taking on the USSR and Cuba in an African country, stayed away.

Retreating, Somalia attempted to rebuild itself under a policy of totalitarianism and martial law. Under attack by the hated Ethiopians and the far stronger USSR/Cuba military machine, they were not very successful. Naturally, the deplorable conditions undid any goodwill among the Somali citizens themselves, who became increasingly open to the propaganda from Ethiopia pushing for revolution. Eventually, the inevitable happened and Somalia fell into Civil War, with the usual mass insanity that brings. The country fractured in different directions and no systems functioned anymore.

Money became nearly valueless, critical infrastructure was just sold off. Electricity was no longer provided.

By 1990 the situation was dire. There was no organization of any serious kind, while there was a kind of military force. But this military force restricted itself to whatever worked best, so it was infrequent to see any actual law enforced, or to see any kind of daytime fighting. People disappeared from their beds at night, instead, a practice seen in horrific situations throughout modern history around the world.

The country fractured even further, in many different directions, and naturally an all out war for resources ensued. It is not exactly correct to call this situation ‘evil’, as it is more a desperate fight for survival, the only law being clan law. Cattle, pasture, water, any available medicine - this was no longer a war having anything to do with money, it was about basic survival. As if the unthinkable had happened to the United States, and what was left of Arizona had to fight what was left of Texas for what was left of anything. These kinds of things tend to happen when colonialism uproots itself suddenly from its victims.

In 1992 the UN began what some of us may remember (I certainly remember the hue and cry of soldiers sent to Somalia with orders not to fire) as the misguided “peace-keeping” operations. Soldiers were required to act only in self-defense, and at the time there were reports (credible or not) that rifles weren’t even permitted to be loaded.

This force had absolutely no effect on the situation and was completely disregarded by the warring clans. Soon after, the United States formed a ‘task force’ and entered Somalia officially to create a stable situation for the administering of humanitarian aid. The propaganda was thick at the time, the US apparently having no intentions other than to ‘help’. Somalis completely distrusted the operation of course, seeing instead a cynical attempt by the world power to snatch up some seriously depressed property and thus begin a new era of imperialism. The United States withdrew in that capacity, amid confusion as to what their intent was, and re-entered under the banner of the United Nations, with this incarnation of peace-keeping intended to be far more hands-on.

Naturally all of this required a coalition, so it should come as no surprise that by this time Pakistan was involved in the area, and came under fire in Mogadishu. The ensuing battles were brutal and bloody, with Somalis bearing the brunt of casualties. Eighteen US servicemen were killed and a movie was made. Eventually the UN retreated, the situation being far beyond what they had expected - in part because Somalia was not ever going to sell out to foreign powers again. Somalia was no better for the effort by the time the UN left.

Now, we must pull back the zoom a bit.

Around the world, capitalistic enterprise has done what it can to consume more and more of the resources the wealthy assign to themselves. Whether for profit, or straight up consumption, the wealthy elite of the world have initiated frenzied, even bizarre, practices to keep consumption and profit high. There is no longer even the idea of ‘investment’ without ‘growth’. Growth, of course, does not mean literal growth of resources - it means growth in consumption of resources.

One vital area I’d like to show is particularly troubling: fishing.

Europe, Japan, the US ... let’s just say ‘the developed world’ - have destroyed, through over-fishing, over-consumption, what used to be vast reserves of marine life; this goes beyond the destruction of fisheries due to climate change and pollution. This is expansively documented. The above article is just the latest aggregate of numbers, but the story has been sour for quite a while now. The developed world has destroyed, is destroying, its share of fish beds. It is moving rapidly to destroy the rest of the world’s share. This is where our story of Somalia rightly begins. This begins the true story of Pirates.

Checking Out Some Pirate Tales Part 3

2009-05-09T22:06:00.000-07:00

The second issue is “How did the uncomfortable truths stay hidden?”

To even marginally discuss that issue, of course, we have to start with what those truths may be.

A few weeks before the particular incident that ignited awareness about pirates occurred, a Huffington Post editor had solicited and printed an essay about the issue. The author was a Somali born rapper named K’naan, and his take on the issue was eye-opening. The title alone is worth repeating (I've embedded the link here as well):

“Why we don’t condemn our pirates.”

At the time, K’naan wrote the incredible: many, possibly most, regular Somalis were firmly behind these ‘Pirates’.

Somehow this story continues to be muted. However in the land of the Free, where we are regularly led to believe that our soldiers must be deployed to poor places to help devastated populations, to save them from cruelty and death at the hands of madmen, it must, sooner or later, become our practice to, even only occasionally, hear out the stories from the very people we are helping. It turns out there is an incredible story behind this media extravaganza.

The K’naan article is as good a place to start as any: he details briefly the shocking treatment of Somali waters, by foreign powers, after the State failed. He doesn’t go into a major treatment of why the State failed, but that isn’t hard to find, your basic Wikipedia article - assuming you catch it on the right week when it has been edited in the right direction for whatever political reason - will outline it for one easily.

They have a long history of Clan fighting and civil war there. At some point Europe became interested in the exploitation of Somalia, and for a brief period the Clans were united against Imperialism, but, predictably, a clan or two eventually sold out their country and joined in helping the various European nations to get a hold of the resources, in exchange for helping to kill ancient Somali enemies (and what must have seemed a sizable share of loot). The different European nations took their turn climbing on and off Somalia. It is an old story, and while it provides background, isn’t essential to understanding piracy.

It is enough to say that first the Italians, then the British, then the French, took various parts of the country and did their work. During World War II, Somalis made a mistake frequently made by indigenous peoples, and chose to assist the colonial powers. Specifically, they aided the Allies in British Somaliland against the Axis powers.

As history continually proves, this kind of action is never rewarded. The British repaid the favor by parceling out lands and re-drawing boundaries as they saw fit, handing quite a bit of Somalian land to Ethiopia, in exchange for Ethiopia’s assistance in dealings far less crucial than World War II. The British made some pretense of proclaiming that the nomadic somalis would remain independent, but Ethiopia quite naturally dismissed that with a wave of the King’s hand as soon as the property was transferred, making shocked and disgruntled Somalis now the subjects of Ethiopian power.

Quite naturally, this action has led to strife and even more warfare, right up through the late ‘70s, between Somalia and Ethiopia.

In a move that would have to boggle most minds, Italy - which, it is frequently forgotten for some reason, was on the Axis side of the Second World War - was, bafflingly, handed back control of Italian Somaliland. With, of course, a stern warning that “they would be watched carefully” and that they were to, please, see their way to providing independence for Somalis within a decade. In all the back and forth of the division of Somalia, for some reason it never even came up for discussion that Somalia would be the recipient of any of this generosity - even though they had assisted the Allies in winning the war. It just never seemed to come up, outside of the Somalis themselves, that maybe Somalia should be rewarded with a return of their lands. Ethiopia, and even the enemy, Italy, were the beneficiaries of British largesse. Somalia was left stunned, and with no real options but to fight for their independence.

Checking Out Some Pirate Tales Part 2

2009-05-08T14:36:00.000-07:00

So, in fact, one thing that is fascinating about the explosion of coverage is “Why Now? Why This?”

And, in a very connected issue, “How on Earth did the uncomfortable truths manage to stay in the dark?”

As to the first issue, it could be pointed out that this was an American captain of a ship bringing relief for the poor and devastated people of the country.

But it can’t be overstated that this issue has been escalating for, oh, roughly 17 years.

Certainly, we have heard some stories, vague notions and whispers, here and there in the mainstream network of news delivery. Certainly, for most of us, this was not the first time we’d heard of pirates.

Still, there was something different about this case and the coverage reflected this difference.

It might be relevant to point out that this story took over the news cycle that also included President Obama’s turnaround on the economy.

Up to about the 10th of April, Obama had been perceived as very pessimistic on the state of the economy. Even while handing over unprecedented amounts of the public fund, through direct governmental aid, along with the incredibly vast amounts handed over through the much quieter route of the Federal Reserve, Obama was perceived as being ‘too negative’ by members of the political and corporate elite who wanted the President to work some of the charm for which he is famous.

The perception was, quite correctly, that since the problem with the economy was that average citizens were starting to save their money instead of continuing to spend it wantonly, a calming message from the President might loosen the public’s will and begin the flow upward again of the middle and lower classes’ monies to the elite class. Stories on this, and elements of the economic collapse relating to this, have been covered extensively, perhaps best by “Baseline Scenario”.

I also wrote about this a few weeks ago, specifically about the bizarre message put out by the White House using the State-Controlled outlet of the Associated Press. The message was out of nowhere in relation to the work and findings of serious economists at the time, and in a shoddy rush-job, used the Associated Press to spread this as “news” even though there was no independent corroboration of the message; the entire message was simply stated by the Associated Press, and the only sourcing came from the White House, and Wachovia/Wells Fargo.

Wells Fargo, as I pointed out, was deeply indebted to the White House for outstanding amounts of public cash gifted to Wells for the purchase of Wachovia. Wachovia and Wells, therefore, are essentially the same entity now, and instead were presented as two separate and independent sources for the ‘uplifting’ look at the economy brought to us by the AP. Not only was Wachovia not independent of Wells, neither was independent of the Government.

It should not be inferred that I mean to say the pirate attack was cooked up in order to deflect attention; that would be absurd, of course.

It is entirely possible however, that once the incident occurred, quick thinking and acting officials helped the story gather momentum in the press to deflect from the shockingly poor work being done on the economy.

One press release by State-Controlled Associated Press News printed some phony question/ answer session with ... I have no idea. It was just printed as “Q vs. A”... on “How Banks Make Money” and “How Banks Fail”, etc. It was a laughable, but sad interpretation for the public as to the functioning of banks. One sterling example of illumination as to how 'the system works', in regard to financial markets:

"But they're really networks of electronic rivers of money flowing in and out in a torrent of transactions."

That is, of course, insane. You can't explain finance by saying "they are really electronic rivers." That is just more word-picture, and doesn't actually do anything but put comic book answers to serious problems in the listener's head.

The article was just silly enough, and just badly written enough, to confuse and pacify the reader. It would have been natural for the reader to find themselves with even less of an understanding of the issue, but at the same time comfortable in the notion that if someone out there thought this was so easy, then it was safe to believe this was being looked after carefully... by someone.

To finish off the totally unsourced, totally bizarre announcement by the State, the AP included the lyrics to an old song... about banks. Something from the ‘80s I believe, having to do with “Be a Bank!”

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.aspx?Feed=AP&Date=20090409&ID=9776985&Symbol=US:BAC

At a time when Americans were experiencing a drastic two-thirds loss of personal wealth, at a time when people were presumably doing in - depth research on what had happened to them, and who had done it, this next bit had to take some kind of prize for shocking, insulting treatment of the subject:

"Q: It seems like, in good times at least, running a bank is a pretty nice business.

A: Right. A show number in the New York Financial Writers Association's 1984 production of its "Financial Follies" seems especially prescient. It's sung to the tune of 'Be a Clown':

'Be a bank, be a bank,

How the Fed loves a bank;

Wear blue suits and black shoes

And there's just no way you can lose;

Take a risk, take a chance,

Son, you can't go wrong in finance.

...

When you're up you make out

And when you're down you're bailed out.

...

Just call on Uncle Sam and he'll make everyone whole.

Be a bank, be a bank, be a bank.'

This little lullaby is supposed to calm the nerves and make it alright to go back to an over-leveraged life. This is typically the way the State speaks to its Citizens, as though they are mentally, genetically, deficient. In their way of thinking this has nothing to do with monopolization of decision making power and knowledge; some people are just better than others, there are winners and losers. The winners get to speak this way to the losers.

And the Associated Press would like you to know that they take full credit for this piece, and expect their just rewards. They have engaged on a strenuous campaign against bloggers and the internet in general, who they feel aren't paying enough for this, what passes for 'information'.

The fact is that, already at the time, the serious economists had started to gear up to savagely tear through the announcements. Already the “stress tests” had been savaged, and it was only going to get worse.

Suddenly, with Pirates attacking, no one was listening any more to the bad, or at least confusing, news about the economy. And after a few days, the public, who had reliably pushed the State’s message to the back of the mind for a few days ‘until this pirate mess gets sorted out’, would have three or four full days with that meme living in their minds and making itself comfortable. By the time anyone was willing to stop talking about pirates or the “so very cool” Navy SEALS, people had grown quite used to the idea that perhaps the economy had stopped failing, even if it wouldn’t recover for quite a long time.

This is one possible view for why the Media attention got so much more intense for this case. Another is that having scary enemies makes life much easier for the political elite. We can go into that one in more depth later.

Checking Out Some Pirate Tales

2009-05-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

About a month ago the entire Media Industry of the United States seemed frozen, stunned, by the subject of pirates. The issue started with the boarding of the Maersk Alabama, a ship bringing relief aid to Somalia, by Somali pirates. The pirates took Captain Richard Phillips hostage.

Phillips, who teaches a course on how to deal with a pirate attack, had immediately disabled his ship’s engines. When the Pirates attempted to take the ship, they found it was useless. Phillips heroically (as I believe he even teaches in his class) bargained with the pirates to let go of the crew. He offered himself up as the most valuable hostage. The pirates agreed and tried to spirit Phillips away on a raft. By that time, however, various naval forces, from the U.S. and Europe, had arrived, and so began the standoff.

The details of the hostage negotiation were thrillingly presented by what seemed like every possible outlet. Round-the-clock coverage on television; bulletins on radio; timelined and updated emergency bulletins on internet news. The Huffington Post, correctly catching the wave of interest, ran daily stories and op-eds, and updated their various timeline articles, and excerpts, hourly. Here is one example of just their hourly coverage of the rescue hours, when the Navy SEALS parachuted onto the scene and sniped three of the four pirates, killing them with head shots, according to the Pentagon spokesperson.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/12/captain-richard-phillips_n_185983.html

What was fascinating about this coverage was not the extensive nature by itself; after all, anyone following the story of the escalation of piracy over the last decade or more would have to have been thrilled that this was finally happening. Finally, Somalia’s deep devastation by foreign powers would receive attention. It would have to seem that this level of attention would quite naturally lead to various uncomfortable truths coming to light.

FREE THE WEST MEMPHIS 3 - pretty please?

2009-04-29T00:02:00.000-07:00

I'm going to re-print here an informational handout created by "Arkansas Take Action", a group trying desperately to free three wrongly convicted boys (now men) in a travesty, a sham, a mockery of a trial. And because the same 'Judge' keeps presiding over the case, all appeals keep being defeated. It's going to take public effort and outrage to get this done. How we'll all live with ourselves afterwards for allowing these kinds of State crimes to happen on a regular basis is another question - but we can start by at least paying attention and signing petitions, making calls, showing up to rallies, donating money, screaming "FREE THE WEST MEMPHIS 3" anywhere we can get in front of a camera.

The long and short of it is it is impossible to believe that justice was served in this case. Even if you are incredibly hard-headed - which can happen, I bear you no ill will for that - you have to at least note that while the Defense may not have proved that the boys didn't do it (I write that infuriating statement only because the crime was discussed very little in the trial; most of the time was spent discussing Satan and Alistair Crowley), the Prosecution certainly did not meet the very basis of Justice by proving, by any standard at all, even clown standards, that the suspects DID do it. They may have proved that someone wore black and wrote the name Crowley on a piece of paper. Someone else was friends with that person. And someone else, from what I understand, was barely even associated to the other two.

For Goodness' Sake - I'm still not even sure how these boys got picked up by the police in the first place. With all I know now about the case I'm still just not even sure how they got mixed up in all this. From the horrified, stunned quotes from their families, the police just swept in and took them away - it sounds like they aren't even altogether sure how their loved ones got connected to this in the first place.

These were just names, among the dozens of leads the police had; almost all of the other names, far more promising than these three. How these three ended up being THE three, I just don't understand, I haven't seen an explanation, it didn't seem to come up at trial very much, and I'm still lost on this. All discussion of the case runs immediately to the very important points: the completely bogus and insane story put forth by the prosecution. I still don't really understand how the police settled on these three to begin with.

Anyway this is a re-print of a PDF put out by Arkansas Take Action, hoping to get some, well, action on this. I'm putting it here hoping the stray people who end up on this blog looking for pictures of breasts or something actually, hopefully, accidentally even, take a look at this and maybe we can get someone from everywhere outraged just enough to get these guys out.

Then maybe we can address how we're going to re-pay and take care of these men now that they have been trained to live in jail and are going to have a hard time getting a fair shot, let alone a job, in what passes for our society. AFTER we get them out.

I want to finish by saying: this isn't their fight. When your country does this, it is your fight. All of us who supposedly enjoy all this freedom we're getting from all the wars we wage on the world; this is OUR fight, WE are supposed to make sure we don't pay into this kind of system. It isn't supposed to be up to our victims to get themselves justice, it's up to US to make sure that criminals aren't running the system. Please read on and do what you can for the West Memphis 3. Half- Your- Life is a long time to spend in jail for something you not only didn't do, but that no one on Earth has ever proved you did.

Also, for a short video run-down of the case, you can either check out their site at FreeWestMemphis3.org, or check out the blog post immediately preceding this one where I posted their work.

********************************

In 1993, shortly after three eight-year-old boys were found mutilated and murdered in West Memphis,

Arkansas, police assured the public that the three teenagers they had in custody were responsible for

these horrible crimes.

http://www.wm3.org/live/thewm3/index.php

Evidence: An error-filled and police abetted "confession," extracted from 16-year-old Jessie

Misskelley Jr., a boy with the mental development of a second grader—after 12 hours of berating,

without counsel or parental consent—was all they had.

http://www.jivepuppi.com/jivepuppi_slide_presentation.html

There was no other physical evidence, no weapon, no motive, and no connection to the victims.

Instead, prosecutors terrified and inflamed the shell- shocked community with tales of Satanism. (No

evidence of satanic practices was ever produced.)

Jessie Misskelley recanted his mercurial statements immediately upon being released to his family,

imploring that the police forced, via threat and the lure of money, the story upon him, but it was too

late—

Misskelley, Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols, collectively known worldwide as The West

Memphis Three, were arrested—then convicted of murder.

http://callahan.8k.com/custom3.html

Jason's wardrobe of rock & roll t-shirts along with his interest in modern rock music and Damien's

interest in Stephen King and Wicca proved that these boys were Satanists, prosecutors insisted, and

made them capable of ritualistically brutalizing these three young boys, beating and stabbing them to

death, sucking away their blood, pinning their bound and naked bodies beneath the muddy waters

of a wooded creek, then walking back home to their families and going to school unaffected the

following today.

None of this was true.

Yet a stunned community and West Memphis jury swallowed, unblinking, what they were fed by this

disreputable police force, a unit at the time under investigation by the Arkansas State police for criminal

misbehavior and corruption.

Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis

Three (pg. 342)

Stunningly, Jason Baldwin, 16 at the time and a model student, was sentenced to life without parole; Jessie

Misskelley got life plus 40 years, while Damien Echols was sentenced to death. Damien has spent 15 years in solitary confinement awaiting death by lethal injection for a crime neither he nor Jessie nor Jason had

anything to do with.

A panicked community, desperate police, impoverished defense attorneys, and a rush to

judgment condemned them.

For 15 years The West Memphis Three have been imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. But

there’s still hope for them—and you can help!

To learn more of the case of their innocence1 we invite you to visit these links, decide for yourself, and help if you can.

Peace.

• http://freewestmemphis3.org/donate.html

• http://www.wm3.org/live/howtohelp/index.php

Videos of a press conference at which recent scientific evidence is discussed at length are available

online at www.freewestmemphis3.org. These videos and the other evidence found via links here will

illuminate you in regards to the "evidence" and "forensics" put forward by prosecutors at the time, as

well what new evidence reveals. Please help us help these three innocent young men. They are innocent.

And they need your open mind and open heart now.

Thank you so very much!

ARKANSAS TAKE ACTION

This Just In: Law Enforcement Loves Killing People

2009-04-28T00:36:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I finally got around to watching a two-part documentary, called "Paradise Lost" suggested to me by Shane, writer of one of the great blogs out there, Memoires of a Heroinhead.

After reading my rundown of the powerful documentary "The Thin Blue Line" -a story about the Dallas Police Department's concerted effort to execute a man who was clearly innocent of the murder of a police officer - Shane thought I'd appreciate the story of The West Memphis Three.

The West Memphis Three are three young men- 16 and 17 year old boys at the time - who have been in jail for fifteen years for the brutal slaughter of three 8 year old boys. The dead young boys were found in the woods, near, or in, a stream, deep in the woods. The case is a similar miscarriage of justice to The Thin Blue Line story.

There isn't a motive, murder weapon, opportunity, or in fact any kind of evidence linking the suspects to the murders. In fact, just like in Thin Blue Line, there appear to have been other fantastic leads that could have been followed, but were simply dropped in favor of pursuing the boys that were eventually charged. One such lead was the owner of a Bojangles who tried to report to the police that there was a man in the Bojangles restroom bleeding profusely, with mud all over his boots. The man appeared out of it, and had apparently defecated on himself. When someone from the restaurant looked in on him he freaked out and left.

When the officer arrived on the scene, years of training and instinct took over and she naturally drove to the drive-thru window. On the stand she argued that she had no reason to connect this story to the recent killings. "It was a whole other ward!" she drawled angrily.

"I know it's technically -- there's some line on some map that separates these districts" the defense attorney countered. "but they are actually locations quite close to each other, right?" "Yes!" touche'ed the officer, who seemed to think this backed up her version.

It comes out that she refused to enter the establishment, and that after a second call to the police, someone else, some other cop, ended up taking blood scrapings from the bathroom and submitting them into the police record. Not that it would have mattered that much since the police tracked the mud and insects from the crime scene right into the bathroom scene on their shoes. Look, maybe if Bojangles provided a welcome mat this wouldn't have to happen.

We immediately see some important detective or other on the stand, and the defense attorney quite naturally asks "So what did the lab have to say about it?"

"They were not sent to any lab" counters the officer wisely.

You know, there's a lot of unintelligent sounding drawling going on in this movie, but let me tell you these cops are actually geniuses.

"It wasn't sent to a lab? What did you do with them?"

"Lost 'em."

The attorney just stares at him a second and says "You lost--?"

"Yes I did, I did lose them, that IS ma fault. I DID lose a piece of evudense."

No matter. None of this in fact matters. Because they had three clearly guilty parties.

One, a young man with an IQ of 71 or so, named Jessie Misskelley, whom they interrogated for 12 hours without a parent or a lawyer anywhere near the room. They 'talked' to him for 12 hours without any type of record of the questioning: not a tape, not even notes on napkins. They recorded only 45 minutes, and those are - I have to admit - hilarious. Well, the 'coerced confession' expert, Dr. Richard Ofshe, who testified didn't seem to think so - he was irate on the stand and has been outraged ever since at what he calls the clearest example of coerced confession he's seen. Well, he also added that it was "the stupidest fucking confession I've ever seen." But I think he gave that particular opinion for free on his own time.

He's a professor emeritus at Berkeley, which of course leads the rightfully anti-smartness Prosecutor to predictably drawl "Wayul, na, ah don't know ha they do thangs out thayur in Berkeley... but..."

The simple young man states that they picked the kids up at noon. Odd... that doesn't sound right according to the timelines. No matter.

The officer helpfully suggests - this is recorded now - "You got them after school right?" "That's right, so we got them after school..." and then the officers "suggest" that "you picked them up that night and you were with them..." "right, we were with them all that night..." and we just listen to these helpful coppers correct this man - with an IQ lower than George Bush's, mind you - into giving the most incriminating statement possible.

The young man was so disgusted with himself at the end of this that he refused to testify in the trial of the other two suspects, ashamed that he had lied and ashamed to have to lie in front of his mother in court. He ended up with a typical Arkansas conviction: "Lahf plus forty yairs." Which I think means after he dies the body can't be moved for forty years.

The other two suspects? Simple. They loved Satan.

There is no other evidence presented; the prosecution doesn't even try. The entire case is about how much black the kids wore, how much Metallica they listened to, how much they may have read or known about Alistair Crowley. Also, one of the suspects was one of that very rare minority of people who have read a Steven King book. King has sold literally enough books for every man, woman and child in the United States, with a good 50 million or so left over for Mexico. All sold to a dark and evil tiny minority.

And quite frankly... I think there's a great chance at least that the "ringleader", Damien Echols, may have been under-playing, or even lying, about how much he was into occult readings. He was into Wicca at the time - that scary, dangerous cult that makes people dance with trees and declare that everything is one with nature, and that, outrageously, does not believe in the existence of Satan - but even more frighteningly, believes that women could actually be gods (termed "goddesses" by some wackos; don't ask me, I never heard of such a thing)

- and he even wrote the name of Crowley in code-alphabet when he had time to kill while the wise adults outside were best trying to figure out a way to completely subvert and destroy justice.

I mean I guess if you told me that police were looking for a murderer who liked Anthony Burgess novels, I might say I'd never even heard of the guy, or the movie A Clockwork Orange. I might say anything at all, who knows. I might even claim not to have heard of this guy Satan.

Yes, there are other leads presented that no one in Arkansas seemed to care about. The stepfather, John Mark Byers, adoptive father of one of the murdered boys, Christopher Byers, couldn't really explain satisfactorily why a knife he gave as a gift to the HBO cameraman had human blood on it - his and his stepson's type - nor why he told the police when questioned that he hadn't used the knife; then, that he had maybe carved some venison with it, but NEVER even so much as accidentally cut himself with it; then, after a helpful suggestion by the police, that he had cut his thumb with it.

Later, when it becomes apparent that medical examiners had missed a bite mark on one of the boy's faces- the stepson of the knife-gifter- which could easily convict someone if you could match the teeth to the mark... well, the stepfather provides three separate, conflicting explanations, at three different times in the film, as to why he conveniently had most of his teeth pulled and replaced with dentures.

Whatever. That's just a lot of smoke and mirrors. The fact is that someone in that town obviously believed in Satan. And that's more important than some random kid murderer.

Look, before this case I had a whacked out point of view on this. I thought that even if someone was into black clothes, and into the occult, you still had to prove they might have actually had something to do with a murder to get a conviction.

In fact, I had the wild notion that it was even legal to Love Satan. I mean I thought that even if you could prove that the suspect was really wild about Satan, if you could show that he had written "Ah jus' loves ma Satan" in hearts all over his textbook covers, you still had to prove he was even remotely linked to the murders.

In fact, I had the truly insane notion that even if you could bring Satan himself into court, and he was actually on fire and had horns on his head, and clopped up to the witness stand on goat hooves, you still had to prove Satan was actually anywhere near the crime scene to get a conviction of, yes, even Satan.

Boy was I stupid! Everyone knows that hunting down Satanists and getting them in jail - whether they did it or not - is far more important than making sure child-murderers aren't walking around.

Well... not everyone knows, apparently. There are a bunch of wrong-headed wackos who hold my old beliefs, that Justice and Law are somehow separate from the Church in this country. Think again Satan-Worshipping Hippies! Go back to Los Angeles with that crap! These poor misguided fools insist on waging a battle against the forces of in-breeding to this day. They are helping, and seeing through, appeal after appeal that keeps getting defeated.

The great thing about the case is that the 'judge' who presided over the case, half awake, is the only judge who's ever heard the case, who's ever been allowed to give an opinion... and shucks, he just thinks he did a great job the first time, and sees no compelling reason to let these now-grown-men free. It was pretty obvious to him that these boys loved Satan. 'Nuff said. Don't try to confuse this guy with motives, murder weapons, opportunities, forensics, DNA, the law, morality, or in fact anything else. This is about Satan.

Fortunately the 'Judge' gets to sit behind a big desk that hides the unfortunate color of his judge's robes. I mean... if people really got a load of the way those guys dress we might have had a completely different miscarriage of justice.

If for some strange reason you aren't afraid of Satan, and you insist on pushing this issue, I guess you could watch this short video.

West Memphis Three: Time for Truth from Brian Quist on Vimeo.

There are links there to two West Memphis 3 support web sites.

Of course I would suggest maybe watching the short video before you go out and rent the movies. Because otherwise you might stop hating Satan long enough to get so outraged at how considerably older these men are by now - their entire adult lives in jail, now, since 1993 - that you might freak out and riot. And then be accused of loving Satan. And then be thrown in jail for whatever unsolved murders the drive-thru police have on hand.

I mean - at this point Damien Echols has a receding hairline. He has a different voice. So if by some miracle you aren't afraid of Satan, or Loki, or Elves, or what have you, then yes, you might shake with powerless anger. Well, we do have power, yes, but only if we can turn off CNN long enough to take to the streets, which isn't advisable because Satan is out there.

Actually, all three men have receding hairlines by now. They're older, yes, but I read recently, in a story about how many old people we have in jail, that 'jail years' are much faster and more wearing on the body than regular years. If you are in jail for a really long time and you make it to 55, you are physically closer to 65 or so. And on and on.

Echols at one point had to sue the State because the prison guards used to stand around and laugh while he was repeatedly raped for years. I imagine nothing like that is going to happen to the 'prosecutors', the 'judge', the 'guards', the 'detectives', or anyone who has stolen justice from the land.

One funny little quirk: the young man who was browbeaten into confessing, Misskelley, received life + 40 years. The 'ringleader', who was unfortunately named Damien (his family liked the story of Saint Damien apparently, a guy who had the nerve to help lepers, and who callously didn't mind at all that 90 years later some Hollywood screenwriter would name the son of Satan after him) got the death penalty - and the third young man, Jason Baldwin, got 'only' life in prison.

Oh yeah. If this up here isn't evidence, then I just don't know what evidence is.

So, the guy who confessed got an extra 40 tacked on, over and above the guy who went to trial.

Baldwin, by the way, has very little hair left at all on his head. Misskelley shaves his head but the stubble seems to start pretty far back. These men have been in jail half their lives, and the signs of aging really drive home how useless and broken the justice system is.

So, Arkansas apparently has a huge problem with the color black, huh? Let's just go ahead and put that disaster-area on my "won't even fly over" list, just under Texas.

http://www.wm3.org/

FreeWestMemphis3.org

Anyway, problems with the color black leads me to my next startling story. It turns out that a black man killed a young, innocent white woman in a bear attack. Startling, but true. If you know of any black person, please, report them to the authorities. If you know of any black people who actually wear the color black, I think your patriotic duty is to take care of it before the authorities even get there. After all, authorities tend to dislike crime scenes, much preferring a trip through the drive-thru instead.

Watch the video below if you don't believe we should all be scared of the color black.

My thanks to Shane over at Heroinhead for pointing this story of the WM3 out.

DNA Evidence Frees Black Man Convicted Of Bear Attack

**Update: My thanks to Brent Peterson for correcting my incredibly egregious mistake, confusing West Memphis for being in Tennessee rather than Arkansas. There's been more than enough misinformation for a lifetime and I'm very embarrassed, obviously, to have added to that in any way. I mean, it's only mentioned about a hundred times in both movies, Wikipedia entries, and on both of the West Memphis 3 support sites I've read. Repeat: This is happening in Arkansas, not Tennessee. Thanks Mr. Peterson. I've amended the post and followed up in the comments below.

Warning: Press Announcement From MSGI Follows

2009-04-26T06:12:00.000-07:00

In a recent email exchange with a friend, we discussed what he would like to do for his upcoming birthday.

Some of you might know that ever since I was a kid I've had a hard time sleeping at night. As an adult I stopped fighting it and just allowed nature to take its course. I've been one of the minority of truly nocturnal people for a very long time now. It runs in my family a little, and is just one of my quirks. But I am even more productive than most of my daytime counterparts. It's just that come 7 or 8 am, while most people are getting up to begin creating wealth for the Rich, I'm winding down for a good 5 or 6 hour rest.

So when one of my emails got to this friend at an odd - for me - hour, he quite naturally grew suspicious. What on Earth could have me burning the candle at both ends like this?

I couldn't tell him right off at that moment, but what he couldn't possibly know is that I was perilously close to completing an enormous work for mankind. And when, today, I was finally ready to reveal it to the world, I was able to proudly email him back my new press release. The email follows, beginning with his quoted email to me:

********************************************************************

"And WHAT are you doing up so early?"

Glad you asked. I'm finally ready to go public. And I mean really public. Like, public offering of shares. Hold on to your wallet, because you're about to feel a strong desire to empty it, in my direction.

I'm trying to figure out new meat products for the insatiable public. Look - clearly people need more cheap meat. Being able to find 5c meat to put into a 99c burrito isn't cutting it. All omelets have meat, all salads have meat. So long as capitalism is the law of the land, why fight it? I mean, ok, it's not the best system, it's not the most creative. But it's better than every other one, right? I mean, what else is there? Barter? Communism? Wait, seriously, are there only three ways of exchanging goods? What the hell is everyone doing all day? But I digress.

So long as this is the law of land, we gotta win baby, win! So here is the pitch:

Most people, upon finishing a good hearty meal consisting of what most civilized creatures would call a crime scene, have to stop eating meat long enough to pick the decomposing flesh from their teeth. This is a real downer. It means you now have to stop adding surplus calories, from something that once had thoughts, in order to pick your teeth with wood that came from a noble tree that was once providing humans with life-sustaining gases.

Meanwhile, everyone knows we need every available life-sustaining tree so that we can create pulpy glue that hardens and dries into newspaper. No trees, no LA Times to report that there is no recession anymore. No New York Times to bring you All the Thoughts Fit To Think.

With my phenomenally simple, elegant solution, you need never stop using the remnants of something that cried when it was separated from its mother. I call them...

Meat Picks.

A hardened, almost crystalline sliver of red meat. It is like Beef Jerky, only smaller and sharper and stiffer. Now you can pick yummy meat out of your teeth, with yummy meat. Gash it out from where it is blackening and killing your gums, and as you savor these old rancid remnants, you are still injecting more meat into your mouth. And the best part is, once you are done picking, you can actually chew the pick for hours until soft, like bubble gum! And then carefully swallow! This is flavor that lasts for minutes, and fun that lasts for hours.

As we all now know, every American needs 500 grams of protein every day to live. Any less and you WILL get anemia. It's a fact! Kids need twice that amount!

Meat Picks. Finally, someone thought of everything.

From the makers of Meat Paste - the yum yum way to brush your teeth to protein packed muscularity! Now in Chicken Pork and Lamb, too!

(Warning - do not get in contact with eyes, skin or mouth. Meat that is improperly handled and washed usually has bacteria all over it which is intended to break down the meat. Improper use of Meat Paste and Meat Picks may result in maggot infestation of the abdominal tract, or the occasional worm. Please do not use Meat Paste or Meat Picks if breast-feeding or if a child can even see you. If you come into contact with any Meat product, immediately flush with water and call poison control hotline. Clinical trials of Meat Paste and Meat Picks has shown a 93% chance of gaseous belches that taste like 'acidy vomit'. Meat Solutions Global Inc. is not liable for what may happen if lambs, cows, chickens or pigs gain the power of speech and reason and manage to revolt from their confinement in an Orwellian nightmare that could only be called Justice. Please contact Meat Solutions Global Inc. if you have any feedback, comments, complaints and/or paralysis. Meat Solutions Global Inc. certifies that no animals used in the making of Meat Paste and/or Meat Picks originated from the United States or in fact any developed nation. Meat Paste has been endorsed by The Meat Council, a wholly owned subsidiary of Meat Solutions Global Inc. Meat Picks has not been endorsed by the Meat Council. In clinical trials, no harm arising from the use of Meat Solutions Global Inc products could be conclusively linked to any meat product, but Meat Paste may or may not cause cancer. Meat Picks may contain, or may not contain, small amounts of naturally occurring fecal matter. Meat Paste may contain, or may not contain, small amounts of naturally occurring pus-like additives, which may or may not be, in fact, pus. None of these statements have been evaluated, checked, or even submitted to the FDA. None of these statements should be interpreted to imply a cure or a treatment for any illness. If accidental puncturing of the inner cheek or gum should occur while using a Meat Pick, please flush the area with water and milk and immediately rush to an Emergency Room. Meat Solutions Global Inc. is not responsible, and if responsible then not liable, for any staph, blood, or MSRA infections acquired while using, or through the use of, any Meat Solutions Global Inc. product. Meat Solutions Global Inc. is an independent corporation located in the United States, "MSGI" and all logos and phrases are copyrighted, all rights are reserved.)

Meat Picks - finally someone thought of everything.

And coming soon - Meatalicious Bubba Gum! In Lamb, Cow, Pig, Chicken, and even Horse! We put the Ba-a-a in Bubba!

Press Announcement to follow: For you crazy Vegetarians, we are ready to announce a full line of Meat Picks, Meat Paste, Meatalicious Bubba Gum, and Meat Water in slimming Chicken and Fish. Don't be left out!

That's what I'm doing up so early.

This Land Is Your Land, My Land, Our Land

2009-04-22T04:25:00.000-07:00

Earth day, right? It has always felt a little like a much larger, grander Mother's Day, to me. Some of us laugh at it - even if we believe in the concept - some of us observe or don't.

But it has to be noted this year, with the growing hysteria over the nature of the changes we are making to the planet, that for the first time in recorded history, humanity is close to wiping itself out, and might conceivably even 'kill' the planet which supported us and possibly created us - and all because of a socio-economic system. We might actually be witnessing something miraculous: an economic system that kills us, possibly the planet.

No, we probably won't obliterate the planet to bits... probably. But we will most likely take what was once a life-supporting sphere and change it to match all the others we know of: barren, windy, hostile rocks, unable (and possibly unwilling) to support life. All because of the belief in memes that don't even work for the grand majority of us: "Get out there and get all you can. Nothing personal, only business. Nice guys finish last."

So on this day I'd like to share something I got from someone special to me, my mother.

Some of us know already that our government has permitted the absolute devastation of natural landmarks, and the homes and people that live near them. In the name of mining out more coal. "Clean" coal, of course. It is supposed to be a much better alternative to oil, and maybe it is. But not at the cost we've levied on the people who live in these places.

It has to be noted that a lot of the people who live in these places voted in the very man who greedily ate their communities, President George W. Bush. And sometimes I read people heartlessly saying "They got what they deserved" as though a) it's ok to laugh at people who exercised a vote and got demolished for it and, possibly more importantly, b) the destruction of any part of our country only affects the people living immediately around the destroyed area.

I'll go into more depth later about how 'mountain top removal' (Isn't that a great phrase? Makes it sound normal and natural) works, and what it means for us all. But right now I want to share this experience that was shared with me:

***************

I watched a documentary tonight on the carbon mining (mountain top removal mining) in the Appalachias.

Years ago when I was teaching at Moravian College there was a guy who was taking the class with his daughter and wife; the wife was the evening secretary so she got, as a fringe, free classes for herself and her close family members. He had come from West Virginia, and when I gave out an assignment (write about your favorite city/state/country/place), he said he would write about West Virginia.

His Spanish was very poor but he did a fairly good job, and when he started presenting to the class he started to tear up...

He choked up and could barely speak in any language, so I told him to finish in whatever language because we all wanted to understand the story.

He talked about how he was a country boy, a hillbilly, actually, who had loved his surroundings which were so beautiful... and how it was all disappearing, being destroyed, by the carbon mining and mountain top removal.

He spoke about health hazards, but mostly, he spoke about his beloved mountains disappearing. Here are some pictures

Here are some more

This documentary on PBS tonight was quite well done.

At one point, against the background of a helicopter view of the devastated land (looking like a cauldron from hell, or a nuclear devastation site, which of course makes sense because they blow up these mountains...)-

and against the backdrop of the area's water turned oily black from the carbon slurry... you have the Executives from Massey Energy saying that it's all a lie.

In addition to the horrible desecration of the place, you also have women having stillborn babies, and children dying of pulmonary problems, and all sorts of people having kidney failure...

But the industry/government says, 'no proof,' and 'not our problem', you know the game...

There were some poignant moments where they arrested some of the good citizens, self-named hillbillies - including a 98 year-old great-great grandmother - who are at the State House trying, once again, to get the governor to DO something...

(And me sobbing shamelessly on my couch, not that it does anything except maybe raise my blood pressure)

Remember John Denver's Country Roads?

And Rocky Mountain High?

Most of you don't know that I wrote my first song at the age of 14 because of Denver's 'Sunshine on my Shoulder', which almost always makes me cry...:) and, while I don't mostly like country music, I really found his music appealing to the Cuban guajirita in me who always missed the mountains of Jaruco, going along la Carretera Central in la Habana...

I think if anyone blew up the Sierra Maestra, or the Pico Turquino, which is the highest mountain peak in the Sierra Maestra in the Province of Oriente, and was the base of the revolution, I would be ready to...

Well, I am not going there. Andean Trails

I wanted to share with all of you an Earth day message; we should honor our Mother every day of the year. As the hillbillies say with tears in their eyes - when they have trouble visiting their family cemeteries, with headstones that are two hundred some years old - "once the mountains are gone, they don't grow back!"

So, in this my sixtieth year on this beautiful planet, I say, we must honor her, our planet, and be ready to do for her, as we would be ready to do for any precious thing. (Ask not what more you can take for yourself out of this planet...)

With love and best wishes, peace out.

*****************

Yeah, pretty disturbing stuff. Our government, our industries, have just gone to where it is nice and quiet and set off years of explosions, removed the mountains and left odd looking flat tops where there used to be majestic peaks, destroyed the water and the sky. People devastated. No one in Power giving a crap.

For more info on the Massey Energy scandal in Appalachia, check out this short video at Democracy Now.

I know people are saying it more and more, and it needs to be said one more time:

this can't remain a One-Day-A-Year thing.

I Gotta Chill

2009-04-18T02:29:00.000-07:00

The country's wetting itself over dead teenagers in Somalia, and not asking how the fuck that all started. The AP is cheerleading a feel good campaign that most of State Media is joining in - Time, ABC, CNN, all of 'em are lining up - I heard that whacko that Jon Stewart nearly beat to death, that whacko from CNBC, declared the Depression over -

All of them are starting to get real stern about whether we really need Unions or whether we have to entertain the oligarchs for just a little longer and hope they meant what they said all those years: that we didn't need Roosevelt to create Minimum Wage, we really could've trusted the corporate Masters to take care of us. The Af-Pak war is burning brightly, banks are being encouraged to lie (again) in order to calm down the public. Mike Albert over at Z Mag had a plan for fair economics, and no one in this country is listening - he does decent business around the world it seems, but here he might as well be speaking in binary. Or Economics, for that matter, for all anyone seems to know about that subject.

I gotta chill. I'm gonna burn the hell out and there's no point to that.

Remember vinyl? I'm not an enthusiast or a collector, but seeing this again took me back. I spent a lot of time staring at the round and round and round. Ba Ba.

Thanks to Corrente

for pointing this one out.

Great Work By Alan Mutter

2009-04-16T23:00:00.000-07:00

http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2009/04/dont-blame-google-for-newspaper-woes.html

Just a follow-through on my last take on the AP. Mutter tries to demystify this notion that somehow Google wants to kill the newspaper - or that the Internet in general is stealing news and killing noble CEOs. Well... that's my take on what he said. A little of what he actually says is:

"The airwaves have been clogged in the last couple of weeks with newspaper people alternatively blaming Google for the industry’s problems or begging Google to come to their aid."

"For the record, newspapers actually had a head start over Google. But Google “got” the web. And newspapers didn’t. That’s not Google’s fault."

"As Google and many other savvy online publishers learned how to capitalize on the openness and interactivity of the Internet, newspaper publishers stubbornly spent the last 1½ decades trying to sustain their once-enviable print business model in the face of overwhelming evidence that everything was changing: technology, consumer patterns and advertiser behavior."

There's a whole lot more to the article, including lots of great sources that make the excellent case - including time lines - that the newspaper industry was already a well established industry long before Google was even an inkling in someone's eye. In other words - you want Free Market? You want Capitalism? You like the kind of evolution it brings? Stop whining and get back to work. Maybe unload a high salary or two (many newspapers pay one CEO the same amount they pay to be a 'member' of the AP, for the 'opportunity' to share their content and share the treasure trove of the AP's content). It is a short read with great links back to supporting sources, and I highly recommend it if there is any confusion as to what is really going on with the 'death' of print media.

h/t: Reflections of a Newsosaur - great work