Welcome login | signup
Language en es fr
OccupyForum

Forum Post: In Defence Of The 'Broad Church Of Socialism' Against The Ignorant, Prejudiced And Plain Mean Spirited !!!

Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 11, 2011, 12:28 a.m. EST by shadz66 (19985)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

Like many millions of people throughout the world - I subscribe to Socialist Precepts and Principles because I realise and accept that Socialism has an ethical basis and dimension, above and beyond the ''dog eat dog" and the ''devil take the hindmost" attitudes of crude laissez faire capitalism.

Indeed Modern High-Finance Crapitalism (cf Corporate Banksterism / 'Hoover-Up Kaputalism' ) is a 'busted flush' and any honest person in possession of the most rudimentary ethical compass can clearly see that.

Please do NOT confuse and conflate Socialism with 'State Capitalism' or 'Totalitarian Stalinism' (as is the wont of avowed and abject 'anti-socialists' {ahem!}) and do try to understand why very many 'economists and social & political commentators' with anything pertinent to say about our really outrageous current predicament of a 'Global Debtocracy' ( http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/debtocracy/ ) are increasingly referring to Karl Marx ( http://www.marxists.org/ ) for analysis if not solutions.

Socialism is a philosophy, world view, school of thought and morality and it is a very 'broad church', from Social Democrats, Fabians, Christian Socialist (inspired by that Proto-Socialist, 'Jesus Christ'!) through Dialectical Materialists, Internationalists and Libertarian Anarcho-Syndicalists - to Revolutionary Maoists advocating armed resistance and violent proletarian revolution.

Ignorant and prejudiced opinions are no place for anyone to objectively assess Socialism, so step back from The Corporate MSM (ABCNNBCBS / FUX SNEWzzz etc.) induced apoplexy and prejudices and look to make your own mind up. Thus, further to the links above, I also append the following ['Right Click' for open in 'Different Tab / Page' option] :

a) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism - for Some Fair Facts,

b) http://www.internationalgramscisociety.org/ - as Theory Matters,

c) http://lucyparsons.org/biography-iww.php - for a True US 99% Heroine,

d) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOP2V_np2c0 - for An Animated Analysis,

e) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyagraha - as Re. 'OWS', Gandhian Ideas Matter Too.

Recently a poster (jpaul05), on another thread on this subject wrote : "Socialism is the belief that Production should be Democratically controlled ; NOT in a hierarchical sense but in a decentralized, lateral sense. This way the dominant value guiding society is not maximization of profit, but a plurality of values aimed toward human need.", which I thought was very well put.

In conclusion, either we meekly accept The Usurpation and 'mutation under duress' of our Democracies into 'demoCRAZY deMOCKERYcy' & de facto Fascism ... or we reclaim our Dignity, Liberty, Prosperity and indeed Sanity, as The Only 'Class War' is the one that has been waged by a Parasitic 0.01% (The 1% of the 1%), using the 1% against The 99% Working Class ... because if we need to work to pay our bills .. that IS quite self-evidently what we are, ipso facto !!!

Please also consider :

Finally, some words from Albert Einstein from over 60 years ago :

iVIVA LOS INDIGNADOS Y VIVA LOS 99%!

per ardua ad astra ...

293 Comments

293 Comments


Read the Rules
[-] 7 points by bullfrogma (448) 9 years ago

"The achievement of socialism requires the solution of some extremely difficult socio-political problems: how is it possible, in view of the far-reaching centralization of political and economic power, to prevent bureaucracy from becoming all-powerful and overweening? How can the rights of the individual be protected and therewith a democratic counterweight to the power of bureaucracy be assured?"

What's wrong with public ownership of means of production while at the same time having our constitutional republic type of government? What if there was regulation into that public ownership from the constitutional level? Could this allow our business models to be modular, retaining private ownership of artistic vision while providing public ownership of economic value/impact? It seems like there would be no monopoly to pervert politics.

People still get paid for how much of and the kind of work they put in, right?

[-] 3 points by shadz66 (19985) 9 years ago

“A Threat to American Democracy”, by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I Vt.) :

''The top 25 hedge fund managers made last year over $24 billion. This is enough to pay the salaries of more than 425,000 public schoolteachers.''

Thus re. ''What's wrong with public ownership of means of production while at the same time having our constitutional republic type of government? What if there was regulation into that public ownership from the constitutional level?'' Nothing wrong with your thinking and this is where Democracy would lead if it were allowed to & not usurped by The Corporations & 0.01% Parasites. Imo, the ONLY True Capital is 'human capital'. Crapitalism is now antithetical to the sustainable future of the species. Thanx for your thoughtful and thought provoking comment & I commend the link to you.

e tenebris, lux ...

[-] 4 points by ImNotMe (1488) 8 years ago

So: ''Have you wondered why politicians aren't what they used to be, why governments seem unable to solve real problems? Economist Yanis Varoufakis - the former Minister of Finance for Greece; says that it is because you can be in politics today & yet, not be in power because the real power now belongs to those who control the economy. He believes that the Mega-Rich and Corporations are cannibalizing the political sphere, causing financial crisis. In this talk, hear his dream for a world in which Capital & Labor, no longer struggle against each other; "one that is simultaneously - libertarian, Marxist and Keynesian."!

caveat ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 10 months ago

"Birth Again the Dream of Global Peace and Mutual Respect"! by Vijay Prashad:

Which ends with: "The United States remains a powerful country but it has not come to terms with the immense changes taking place in the world order. It must temper its belief in its ‘manifest destiny’ and recognise that it is nothing more than another country amongst the 193 members states of the United Nations. All of the great powers including the United States, will either find ways to accommodate and cooperate for the common good, or they will all collapse together.

"At the start of the pandemic, head of the World Health Organisation, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, urged the countries of the world to be more collaborative and less confrontational; saying that ‘this is the time for solidarity, not stigma’ and repeating, in the years since - that nations must ‘work together across ideological divides to find common solutions to common problems’. These wise words must be heeded."

per ardua - ad iudicium!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 10 months ago

"Democratic Socialism Is About Democracy"!

"At the core of democratic socialism is a simple idea: democracy is good, and it should be expanded."

The article ends with "Those with power don’t like to be stripped of it. Whether it’s kings or patriarchs, capitalists or cops - threats of shifts toward greater equality of power can prompt a ferocious counter-attack. But to retreat in the face of elite opposition, is to accept a social order still strewn with master-servant relationships. A better world, a more democratic world, is possible"!

ad iudicium!

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 10 months ago

1/3 of college students are food insecure.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/16/food-insecurity-us-college-students

"According to a 2020 survey of more than 195,000 students across the country, conducted by the Hope Center at Temple University, nearly 30% of students at four-year colleges reported experiencing food insecurity. For those at two-year colleges, the number was even higher – almost 40%. And with changes to student eligibility requirements for federally funded hunger relief programs set to take place in May, advocates say the situation could get even worse."

In a society that allows students to starve, socialism is needed badly.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 9 months ago

"Dark Money’s Behind The Debt Ceiling Plan To Punish The Poor"! [Julia Rock & Andrew Perez]

"Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy borrowed his punishing work requirement proposal from the conservative think tank pushing to loosen child labor laws."

fiat lux et fiat justitia!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 9 months ago

“Turning His Back on Student Debtors” .. Biden’s Debt Deal Ends Freeze on Loan Payments for Millions! (Video)

radix omnium malorum - est cupiditas!*

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 2 years ago

"Socialists Fought For and Won Our Basic Democratic Rights" - by Adam J. Sacks:

commune bonum est summum bonum ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

RiP "Barbara Ehrenreich whose books about economic inequality include'Nickel & Dimed','Bait & Switch' and 'Fear of Falling', died on Thursday, September 1 at the age of 81." - here quoted from:

sic transit gloria mundi ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

"The Queen Is Dead" & here's a less gushing, alternative to US/UK MSM:

The number of Americans desperate to be subjects again btw, is alarming!

tempus mutantur et nos mutamur in ellis!

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 1 year ago

Will the monarchy die following the Queen's death? According to this opinion piece, yes:

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/queen-elizabeth-ii-dead-monarchy-may-soon-follow-n1298729

It is shocking how so many British people fail to see how silly and outdated the monarchy looks to people around the world. And, yep, it's weird how many Americans just drool over the pageantry lol.

The monarchy is one of the last bastions of imperialism and colonialism and really, imo, needs to go.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

"After Queen's Death - victims of UK Imperialism share why 'We Will Not Mourn'!" by Brett Wilkins:

"This is Queen Elizabeth's legacy. A legacy of colonial violence & plunder. A legacy of racial segregation & institutionalized racism."

Also see: "It Is Time to Throw the Monarchies of the World Into the Dustbin of History"! - by Chris Hedges:

.. "The fawning adulation of Queen Elizabeth in the United States, which fought a revolution to get rid of the monarchy, and in Great Britain, is in direct proportion to the fear gripping a discredited, incompetent and corrupt global ruling elite.

"The global oligarchs are not sure the next generation of royal sock puppets; mediocrities that include a pedophile prince and his brother, a cranky and eccentric king who accepted suitcases and bags stuffed with $3.2 million in cash from the former prime minister of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, and who has millions stashed in offshore accounts – are up to the job. Let’s hope they are right."

respice, adspice, prospice et fiat justitia ruat caelum!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

'‘Public Ownership Is About Democracy’' - by Jeremy Corbyn:

"Public ownership - is not just more effective, it’s more democratic – it’s time to take vital services like rail, mail, energy, and water out of the control of remote CEOs and unaccountable shareholders."

multum in parvo!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

NB "‘We Need a Labor Movement That’s a Lot More Militant and Willing to Challenge the Status Quo’: An Interview with Joe Burns" - via 'Left Voice'

"Joe Burns - director of collective bargaining with the CWA-AFA union, discusses his new book, 'Class Struggle Unionism, and the importance of a militant labor movement'."

per aspera ad astra ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 months ago

"The Corporation: Full Documentary; 2003" ... What We Were All Up Against!

"The New Corporation: Full Documentary, 2020" - what we are still up against!!

Essential info to understand The Class War du nos jours; Corporations vs. Humans!!!

"CINE" - QUA NON!

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 1 year ago

The left have united in France!

An earthquake is about to shake up politics in France! A new unity coalition, NupesMarcheDeDupes has formed with the Greens, Communists and Socialists coming together with Melanchon's LaFranceInsoumise. This will bring real political power to the left as there is a good chance Melanchon will become Prime Minister of France.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/13/france-left-macron-le-pen-jean-luc-melenchon

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

"“You can cut all the flowers, but you cannot stop spring from coming.” And spring - my friends, is coming." thus beautifully quoting Neruda in ending this candid, honest, insightful & optimistic article:

In compliment of your link,which itself ends with this "It has long been apparent that a giant chunk of the French electorate; millions of young people; swathes of the working-class &, a sizeable share of middle-class progressives - doesn’t fit within the narrow confines of this (Neoliberal) debate & now these voters finally have a coalition that is serious about representing them and taking power." Onwards & upwards?!

dum spiro, spero!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

Carefully consider "Why capitalism should abandon its ... 'Secular Religion Around Markets'"!

Furthermore - also please try to reflect upon the empirical facts that are alluded to in this sad report:

ad iudicium et veritas vos liberabit!

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 1 year ago

"Capitalists long ago learned that they could profit by manipulating both supply and demand to create or sustain “shortages” that would enable them to get higher prices. Capitalism created the advertising industry to boost demand above what it might otherwise be. At the same time, each industry organized to control supply (via informal agreements among producers, mergers, oligopolies, monopolies, and cartels). Social conditions and changes beyond the control of capitalists require them to constantly adjust their manipulations of demand and supply. In reality, markets are useful institutions for capitalists to manipulate for profit. In ideology, markets are useful institutions for capitalists to celebrate as somehow ideal-for-everyone pathways to optimal efficiency."

Richard Wolff gets it, capitalism will never be fair because even if left alone a "free" market will always need to exploit someone, somewhere, in order to secure a profit and therefore, it never can and never will work for everyone.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

NB: "Fears of a Housing Crash Threaten Life Savings of Tens of Millions in the US"!! by Sasha Abramsky:

CAVEAT!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

"Why We Can't Have Nice Things - like Socialism in the United States"! - by Adam Hochschild

As "The never-ending impact of a forgotten Blitzkrieg against the American left" continues, NB this^ because this is part of the political history of USA, that no MSM or Establishment college will teach!

respice; adspice; prospice et spero meliora ...

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 1 year ago

Population decline in the West will be enormous in 20 years. Is capitalism a major cause? Neoliberalism?

The right wing neoliberal ideology that the individual should take care of himself is backfiring as the individual, it turns out, can only afford to take care of himself. Individuals are priced out of having children, having families, because they only earn enough to support one person, themselves, hence the population decline that is coming.

What did we think was going to happen when the cost of education has skyrocketed, when housing has skyrocketed, food prices, etc, in comparison with wages? Did we think people would bring children into that situation? Unable to feed, house and educate them?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/parenting/child-free-choice-birth-rate-crisis-gripping-west/

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

'There was no better socialist writer in the last four decades (than) Mike Davis, the American geographer and historian, (who) has died.'

Your points and link are fundamental! After all "What did we think was going to happen"?!!!

et MULTUM in parvo!

[-] 0 points by grapes (5232) 1 year ago

Red China colluding with Capitalists selling crappy cheap things undercutting all law-abiding market competitors tells why. It's a toxic algal bloom. The U.S. can't have nice things if it can't secure its borders. Denmark can because it can secure its borders. Cell begins with having a membrane to keep ions apart so that a hydrogen-ion/proton gradient may exist across it. The U.S. cannot maintain its borders to keep nice things dispensation in check so the U.S. mustn't have them to avoid going broke. For whom is state-funded medical care? With millions illegal aliens not paying into system, it can't work. Who's the driver not stopping for schoolbus picking up kids?

Danes don't let foreigners in en masse, unlike the U.S. ( Nor did the British Colonial Government in Hong Kong -- it was why my Mom and Big Brother were illegal aliens in Hong Kong for a while {years} despite my Dad's having worked for the British since before European WWII's breaking out; technically at least, they had violated Hong Kong's borders: they trespassed and settled in the gray twilight zone where the British had regarded as being Chinese territory, i.e. accessible to Chinese nationals, but they indeed had the control and the 99-year lease on it.)

We in the U.S. subsidize mediocrity in the name of equity ( breakthroughs aren't made by throwing quantity of money as Red China's hundreds of billions "invested" into semiconductor have proven to be futile -- quantity has a quality all its own alright but quantity can't substitute for quality in extreme areas of endeavor; one individual makes a breakthrough and constructive neutral evolution, not centrally planned evolution, carries it through to create superior complexity.) In New York City for example, we are going to reduce funding to our specialized [magnet] high schools in favor of teaching the newly arrived tens of thousands of asylum seekers' children in recent few months. They were sent here by the gone-deep-south states of Big Ass and Big Dick jutting into the Atlantic. Remarkably and ironically, many were invited back to Big Dick to rebuild it after its own macho prepuce was cut off by Ian, the surgeon.

New York City is an extremely highly regulated locale ( we probably have the greatest U.S. concentration of lawyers here in New York City -- otherwise known as "Jew Jerk," adept at slicing the pie and taking a big piece for themselves, not making the pie any bigger; although Jews are the traditional scapegoats, there are other elements, for sure ! )

New immigrants unless they have connections here are unlikely to gain a footing easily with licensing hindering their way to viable livelihoods. It takes money, time, and talent to build a licensed livelihood here. Do these carted-in asylum seekers possess these requisites here in New York City? I doubt it very much. New York City living expenses are also very high on a global basis. This will cause economic distress in these asylum seekers, especially as winter here arrives soon.

Some Southerners don't know brutal winters well. It's why Los Angeles had attracted migrants far more than New York City did -- it's the great weather about which some haughty Californians are very stuck up but there are fewer devastating earthquakes on the East Coast -- to each their own as freedom of movement is usually available.

Chicago, where some of these people had been sent, can be much worse weather-wise than New York City, in brutal winter. New York City is warmed by the Gulf Stream but Chicago isn't. Chicago nearly abuts the Great White North which often exports "Arctic Bombs" of Frigid Air to Chicago.

I was a legal immigrant to the U.S. and I know other legal immigrants as well, also including illegal immigrants and the histories of their lives' struggle to put down roots here in America so I speak my mind about this matter of settling in.

One prerequisite is "grit." Connection helps. Expect to start near the bottom of the economic strata. Opportunities do exist but that takes eyes to discern. The state won't assign one a job but one gains the economic freedom of not being bound to any particular job. Quitting and going for greater opportunities elsewhere as they come up are fine but don't get into trouble with the legions of lawyers. They bite.

Freedom to move to a new job or no job at all ( a job may well be an obsolete concept still tightly held onto by Baby Boomers but livelihood/gigs may actually be more relevant to the non-Baby-Boomers ) is what makes the American economy so much greater than state-allocated economies. No central government can have more or better understanding of "greater opportunities" than the individuals themselves.

The U. S. also holds public hearings before undertaking public ventures of size so centralized pushes often had private interests taken into account already. It's why the U. S. is governed well ( or even "beautifully" as some have claimed ) despite seemingly having no one being really in charge. It's an integral system of control at the macroscopic level. No one is really in control and yet everyone is in a small way in control.

Red China is really very mentally retarded thinking that Biden could have told Pelosi not to visit Taiwan. It's a fundamental misunderstanding by obviously the top leadership of Red China. Cave fish lead the cave fish.

Blind cave fish can be made into good Chinese sushi, too. Eyeballs aren't required to be sliced up to make sushi as visual systems in juvenile cave fish cost in proportion as much energy for maintenance as human brains. Red Chinese should be capable of achieving a 15% [juvenile-cave-fish] discount without cutting into profits.

The U. S. has at least 330 millions of moving parts ! Red China is far inferior in this respect due to its monolithic state-centrist mindset. Like the Krebs cycle, as conditions change ( i.e. the concentrations of the biochemical metabolites/moities involved changing causing thousands of genes to switch on or off, ) the U. S. creates and destroys simultaneously with the same "magic roundabout." "Has anyone heard of Margaret Dayhoff ?" Patriarchal Science obscured women's breakthroughs.

Islam has no chance in the foreseeable future to catch up with Christianity because its patriarchy runs only half of its available engine cylinders of progress despite both religions being "of the Book" and promote literacy in its believers so they become able to read the holy books.

Christianity conquered the Roman Empire because Christians were the more literate people than others so they made better governing officials for Rome. Another progressive feature of Christianity is that it has the fundamental belief that All are Children of God, and thus all are equal before God. Believing in the Rule of God via [Mosaic] Laws is conducive to subscribing to "the Rule of Law" and expanding rights to "new people" such as women, despite the age-old patriarchy. Big Dicks, my Mom can pull your pants down !

On this women's liberation issue, the Communists got it correct: women should be educated co-equal to men. Communism grew from the lower strata of agrarian societies so it carried much baggage of grievances. It ultimately failed because it had never fitted human nature: beautiful stories by Marx et al but stories they stayed.

Bull-shitting and blaring Communism and its theoretical precursor Socialism loudly with a big horn can't change its nature. I think Red China had discovered this idiocy of Socialism and had to tag on the phrase "with Chinese characteristics" to pull the wool over people's eyes about the "continuity" of Socialist principles. It's really about continuity of the power of the single-party dictatorship.

Socialism gathers the wealth and power of the people to be enjoyed by the party élites. When is the transition to Communism going to happen when Mr. & Mrs. Hillbilly will be moved in to live in ZhongNanHai? Never ! For peasants, it matters very little to which overlord they have to hand over their fruits of labor. They're serfs in Capitalism, Socialism, or never-to-be-reached Communism.

Isn't it more fun to pursue better living for all, superb health, human immortality, superior intellect, and great cultural heritage ( in-biblio and/or in-vitro evolution have largely overtaken in-vivo evolution due to their superior adaptability -- like in downloading new "apps" ) than building idiotic nuclear bombs and missiles to kill each other off fighting over some "Dead White Men's" ideology ??? RIP !

Hack the Krebs Cycle to serve and further humanity. There are trillions of little factories and power plants in each one of us. Who needs Red China if we know how to make our own factories do our bidding ? Grow me a woolen sweater, for example.

Going to the Moon is just passé, to me anyway, partly because I'd lived through that age, live, as a youngster following the [American] process ( not the one by the U.S.S.R. because of English's tying Hong Kong to America ) : Been There, Watched That -- it's a Redeemed-in-America former-Nazi scientists' and engineers' Triumph.

I have also lived through the overarching Cold War which had given rise to the Space Race to the Moon. Even the Cold War was ended in my lifetime, giving rise to the first interactive global consciousness ever possible. In the 1960s, I couldn't talk from Hong Kong, B.C.C. ( British Crown Colony -- i.e. a colony owned directly by Queen Elisabeth II, the British Monarch, a bit like her jewelry; Hong Kong at one time indeed produced pearls so its old nickname "Pearl of the Orient" did have a concrete origin ) to Quito, Ecuador or Moscow, U.S.S.R. on shortwave radios with static-electricity noises and multipath fading, live, but now it's probably possible ( i.e. if politics doesn't interfere first ) from New York City in crystal clear words.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism AND NOT "Red China colluding with Capitalists" OR even

with Communism is the way to understand China, you useless, reactionary, prejudiced, ignorant, shit

spewing bastard!!! NObody is reading your - reams of empty, self-referential, horse-shit either!! C*nt!

Did you even venture to read that^article? No, of course not! Perhaps you should try to read this one:

MULTUM in parvo; temet nosce; cura te ipsum!

[-] 0 points by grapes (5232) 1 year ago

Do you know why being self-referential is a virtue for preserving state sovereignty and territorial integrity by avoiding "undue foreign influence?"

Why do you think that Red China still strictly enforces its "zero-Covid" policy years after vaccines have come about and Red China has already achieved 90% vaccination rate in its vast population ?

India believed Stalin's story about the superiority of the Soviet Socialist system so we all know where India is now (of course, India was blessed with much natural resource but that was actually a curse under [British] Colonialism.) Mao also believed that story and managed to achieve the greatest number of starvation deaths in all history of mankind. Of course, Red China was only retarded for thirty years waiting for Mao to die. "With Chinese characteristics" is a phrase that allowed breaking the unworkable Socialism ruts that Red China was on.

I stick with the Western idea of "the Rule of Law" tempered by Christian Grace. Let your yes be yes and your no, no; all the rest comes from the Devil.

I didn't understand what my Mom had said about our family history being "clean and white(清白)". In retrospect, I understand that now and a lot more because of my Big Brother's providing "gossip[y]" historical backdrop. We weren't exactly "clean and white" ( can members of the landlord class ever be "clean" in Communist ideology ? can inherited wealth of possibly "dark" opium-shipping-perhaps { I'm purely hypothesizing here how our new-clan-founder's wealth had come about; all my Mom had said was that our old clan objected to having our new-clan-founder's father's memorial plaque be placed into our old clan's hall for ancestral worship/clan reunion and he used his great wealth to build his own clan hall for ancestral worship/clan reunion to found his own new clan dwarving the old-clan's, thus incurring the [White-Tiger] Curse:『左青龍, 右白虎, 白虎抬頭要吃子孫。』as presaged by the old clan's elders who had tried to dissuade him from his defiant act to no avail } money ever be "white" even if it's donated to a patriotic enterprise defending China against the marauding Imperial Japanese invaders ) but it was actually true in the mean: we were [transparently patriotic] Chinese and we were forging the "New China" on the United Front ( the Madison progeny of New York City -- known through Madison Avenue, Madison Street, Madison Square Park, Madison Square Garden, etc. -- may understand this well or maybe even the Dutch Knickerbockers' progeny.) It's why our family could migrate across seemingly insurmountable political boundaries. In socialist polity, connection with the wrong people can land one in BIG troubles, even unbeknownst ones due to secret files. It's the reason why Socialism is so oppressive because there might be "rat in anyone." I can tell that you've never lived under Socialism and just fallen for its beautiful stories.

Our family had connections to the extremely powerful elites on the ideological divide, lived under, and with them while taking in what we had experienced and tried to understand: my Mom didn't realize how she was being insidiously discriminated against under Socialism until many decades later. There were good reasons for why we did what we did. My Mom had to leave for Hong Kong with her young kid in tow to become illegal Chinese alien in China's territory leased to the British due to my Dad's connection to the Americans (hello, wartime fighting against a common enemy makes natural allies and creates "connections", right?) It's all because of my Dad's connections with the British and the Americans ( our lineage was of the sea-party culture 海派文化 started from the Opium War invasion of China; another possibility of the great wealth of our new clan's founder was that despite or because of his being an adoptee, he had gained trading wealth with equity in Qing dynasty's state-funded commercial response starting the Chinese-owned "Hongs" to respond to the invasion of the "barbarians," with the British being the first ones leading with the Opium War; my paternal Grandpa's ancestral hall for worship/clan reunion was in Ningpo/Ningbo which was opened up as one of the five Chinese treaty ports which the British gained the ports' being opened up for trade after defeating Qing.) We had to make choices and we did. Socialism sucks.

Taking out garbage, cleaning toilet bowl, sweeping and mopping dirty floor, and moving things and supplies around were my first job opportunities but they weren't monolithic-no-other-choice[-if-you-reject-these-bestowments-from-the-all-encompassing-single-party=only-state-dictatorship] state-assigned-for-a-lifetime employment. I didn't stick with these but moved on, with the help of these.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

Narcissistic claptrap and regurgitating The Establishment's Propaganda does not constitute a practical proposal of a plan for human betterment - You Self-Absorbed; "Me, Myself n' I"; Piece of $H!T; RW; Narcissistic Moron! And you can't "tell" squat about me either - even after 11 years of being here lol!!

Eg. Is Healthcare for Society Important?!!! Are Childbirth; Illness; Injury and End of Life .. modalities for Corporate Profit Extraction & both Public & Private Penury?! Clean water & health, are essential right?

So, after your 7 paras of - 2, 2, 5, 2, 8, 8 & 3 lines length of RW twaddle ... now go read this and revert:

et temet nosce!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

@ gripes: "How REAGAN REPUBLICANS Flushed America Down The Toilet!" (Thom Hartmann)

"Socialism sucks", says the fkn idiotic Turkey - Voting For Thanksgiving! Stockholm Syndrome Much?!

Your wish to regurgitate Ruling Class Propaganda and claim that they are your thoughts - is alarming!!

You are The Arch-RW Reactionary here and as such - the voice of arrogant yet dumb-as-fk RW U$A!!!

temet nosce et per aspera - ad iudicium?

PS: Just observe the mad bastard spewing his altered after the event logorrhea all over these threads!

[-] -1 points by grapes (5232) 1 year ago

Most of what you have listed are important but cave fish don't grow eyes and are indeed 15% more energy effective in the absence of predators in a cave.

As for Communism's central issue of the ownership of the means of production, I say that my Mom owned much of that outright herself: she owned knitting needles, a set of crocheting rods, threads, spools, balls of yarn, scissors (eventually she got to own very expensive Japanese military-grade-steel scissors), measuring tape, rulers (eventually she got to own the rather expensive French curves), colored Reuleaux triangular chalk markers, and an American-made Singer-brand foot-pedal-driven sewing machine. The most capital-intensive part was the sewing machine.

Her handicraft provided the means for our flying to New York City as new immigrants to the U.S.A. Yes, ownership is important but connection is also important. She could have made the fancy clothing anyway but if she didn't have the connection via American-English-speaking middlewomen to the fancy nightclub clothing market, she couldn't have made the foreign exchange to fund our transglobal flights. Yes indeed, ownership of the means of production is fundamental but it doesn't have to belong to the élites. It can belong to the worker individually. Most of my Mom's means of production is within the reach of most hard-working people over time. It started with two knitting needles and balls of woolen yarn and connection to the American nightclub/celebrity fancy-clothing market. I also chipped in for the transglobal flights with my lunch austerity program for years. Here's why I hate inflation because it steals from the capital which striving hard-working people have accumulated and distributes it to the debt-contracting people who had often just pushed papers and out-of-thin-hot-air [often "credit"] numbers upon papers around ( usually availing themselves of the service of the Jews ! -- needless to say, Jews work for insurance companies denying legitimate insurance claims to avoid paying them; just imagine how incendiary that can get, given the haughty attitude some Jews had expressed regarding the peoples of other ethnicities who hadn't fared well financially "because [you are] so dumb !" I mean I do understand a bit of the very Chinese concept of face-saving or 給面子, okay ?! regardless of how truthful the Jew's remark was; I think that many countries' diplomatic corps may have at least an inkling of this concept, too: we need to provide "off ramp" from the "world stage" of the "embarrassing performances" of certain "actors and actresses.")

If Denmark can provide such nice things as free healthcare ( let the truth be told -- there's no such thing as free anything; there's always opportunity cost but then one can always say, "economics is the rigged dismal science so let it be gone" ) let the people who want them migrate to Denmark, hahaha ! Denmark doesn't have a woman holding a torch beside the golden doors but Denmark does have a nude woman/fish sitting by the sea ! Beavers should love it.

Red China purportedly runs towards the realization of Socialism. It has the greatest clean water, air, and health in the world for its people after seventy+ years, right ? Oh, the state is the greatest cigarette maker there and the government dares not have its people stop smoking, lest its revenue should decrease. Who's the dope dealer, eh ? Can one breathe, free of cancerstick smoke, hear a conversation quietly, or eat without savoring the saliva of meal companions, possibly contracting hepatitis-A by socially sharing meals in any restaurant in the Socialists' paradise ? Or not be run over by traffic-rule breakers as a pedestrian crossing a street ? Mmm, automobile exhaust is therapeutic in the Socialists' paradise because it's exhaust "with Chinese characteristics."

"We must increasingly advance accelerate and power-charge to smash through and crush all our people's enemies to achieve pristine air clean water and secure superb health to our people !!!

One mutation, on one chromosome, in one individual: no more evil "undue foreign [devil's] influence" in importing us the dirty air, poisoned water, and ill health to our people. The Danes must make that nude woman put on her clothes, for God's sake !

Adam fell from God because of a nude woman called Eve God had made just for him. Holy shit, didn't I see nudes in the Vatican, too ? Oh yes, yes, yes ! But they weren't hairy... so they didn't need to have hijabs put over them. The Vatican will thus be spared from the Muslims' morality police.

How far has the Chinese people evolved from a century ago as they were then observed and written about by an American missionary to China ?

We [of the ancestral warriors' clan] understand that the Battle of Shanghai is about the survival of our people and our state and we have no other option but to win. China belongs to the Chinese.

Glory to all peoples free in spirit and in body, past and present, and of all time to come, if any. Deeds' effects can indeed persist and transcend beyond a death in battle. Prehistoric Great Hungarian Plain, steppe nomads, Ningxia, Osaka? Okinawa? sea people, Ningbo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, New York -- 海派文化 "been there, done that" in Adriatic-Pacifica. There were fireflies in Riverside Park, [Upper] Manhattan. ATP is the molecule of Life containing three phosphate groups which can be detached from an ATP molecule to react with water molecules to excite electrons in certain types of chemical bonds to create light.

A totalitarian regime can reverse its direction abruptly to work very successfully towards peace and prosperity, as the example of Imperial Japan has demonstrated post-surrender ending WWII, even after its six centuries of military dictatorship, probably the longest in duration in the world. "Beating sword into plowshare/ploughshare," Japan made great scissors from military-grade steel for my Mom's most delicate and demanding work cutting embroidery done in golden silk.

New York, the core of imperium, pledges everything to destroy Evilness.

To all civilians of Moscow, this is a fight to foster peace. All who don't want any part of this, please move aside to clear the way. Kaliningrad is a military exclave so its arms concentration is fair game as target (any civilian still there won't gain much of anything by moving aside within the relatively small place.) Siberia is much safer than any part of Europe. There is space there to disperse the dust widely, as already been proven in U.S.S.R. time.

Shall we go for it, Commander-in-Chief ? Remember Poland, 1939 ? Is Harris in charge now ? Belarus may need to be dealt with by NATO if Russia attacks from there. Belarusians can help overthrow their hated regime by first expelling the Russian troops on their soil. Belarus is strategically situated to be participated as the stage for a NATO-Russia joint special operation, play's name: SeeSaw.

She sells seashells by the seashore. I see my paternal Grandpa's occupation at the wharf: "he's making a list and checking it twice: got to find out who's naughty or nice." Grandpa verifies the list of goods to be shipped against the actual goods loaded at the wharf onto boats and underwrites the shipping expeditions which may eventually go around Africa and reach its destinations in northern Europe, including Königsberg/Kaliningrad and 旦澤自由市/the Free City of Danzig/Gdansk, thereby enabling transcontinental trade, by partnering with the northern European youth who have come to "the Orient," China's treaty ports, to seek their fortunes in life, with Hong Kong being the nexus of the European leg with the Chinese one reaching Ningbo/Ningpo and Shanghai at the entrance to the very long and navigable for trade Yangtze/Yangtse River.

Being mindful of and believing in the omen of the stone lion which did bleed from its eyes probably contributed to my ancestors' acquiring newly created alluvial land. We were "jumpy" conservative in taking chances. It's better to be decades too early than one day too late.

Conquering cancers in their multiplicity may be more difficult than conquering aging (e.g. via hacking Krebs Cycle) but decimating/warding off errCommNOISE/CANCERS early tantamounts to conquering cancers. Yes, some humans probably can celebrate 180th birthdays in the coming two centuries.

It's why I don't worry much about depopulation due to declining birth rates. We humans as a species are shifting towards "fundamentally same old structured (Shannon 1948) wet-commware but different app-software." My nominally patriarchal lineage has apparently been under [White Tiger] Curse for centuries already with extremely high death rates (90%+ due to epidemics, the curse of wealth, power, and handsomeness degrading favored one into opportunistic immorality, and the Sino-Japanese wars) in the offspring as old clan's elders presaged (only the youngest of the offspring had survived to reproduce his male-scion chieftain since the 19th century) but our clan's chieftain still endures. In animal husbandry, very few male animals are required to continue the lineage or flexibly increase the number of living animals. We cull millions of factory-farmed chickens to avoid bird-flu's spreading but we still have many chickens and eggs.

Maybe the sugar-glucose-carbohydrate-primacy-in-metabolism paradigm of providing the body with ATP is wrong. Anthropologists conjectured that the large human brain was sustained by eating termites, scavenging bone marrow in animal carcass bones, or running animals down via heat and long-distance exhaustion, with fat providing the bulk of the calories. Humans have been on a fat-heavy diet for much longer time than an agricultural one heavy in carbohydrates. Fat is good !!!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 years ago

Note ''America’s Original Socialist'' ... by Maurice Isserman:

''A century ago, Eugene V. Debs went to prison for his beliefs.''

respice; adspice; prospice ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 2 years ago

"How Eugene Debs Became a Socialist?!" by Eugene Debs & Shawn Gude:

multum in parvo ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

Consider, "How To Defeat The Billionaire Class?!" Kshama Sawant with Chris Hedges:

"Since being elected to office in 2013, Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant and her Socialist Party have been locked in a bitter battle against the city’s moneyed elites, who've poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into a corporate PAC called “A Better Seattle” and saturated television and digital platforms with negative advertising. Sawant is hated - because she is effective. Following a three-year struggle against the richest man in the world - Jeff Bezos, and his political establishment, she and her allies pushed through a tax on big business that increased city revenues by an estimated $210 to 240 million a year.

"Her leadership & her party, provide an example of effective resistance to the war being waged on the working class and the poor—but, as she explains in this episode of 'The Chris Hedges Report' - every victory has been won - inspite of entrenched opposition from Democrats. Instead of depending on the Democratic Party establishment, Sawant says that the only way to make advances in the class war is through class struggle and mobilizing ordinary people."

dum spiro, spero et per aspera ad astra!


PS: IF U are a reactionary RWNJ or an ally thereof - WARNING: This video will press all your buttons!

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 1 year ago

Shameful SCOTUS.

Today, the Supreme Court threw out the NY hand gun law putting every single American at more danger of being shot and killed.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/new-york-gun-law-supreme-court-decision/index.html

They also limited our Miranda rights! A fundamental right we've had for decades. Police first. Now we can't sue if they forget to tell us our rights. Unbelievable.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/new-york-gun-law-supreme-court-decision/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/23/politics/supreme-court-miranda-rights/index.html

So, what Kshama Sawant and Chris Hedges talk about in this video is ever more meaningful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCCD_g1XYac

Sawant says, "And in fact, it’s quite spectacular now what we are seeing from the consciousness of ordinary people, understanding that the Biden administration has completely failed them. And you don’t have to take the word of a socialist. You can see the approval ratings for Biden are as low as they’ve ever been throughout this presidency. It’s not just him, but the Democratic establishment including his regime have completely failed in passing any kind of progressive program, whether it is $15 an hour or Medicare for All. As you said, he promised to cancel student debt and not even a fraction of that measure has been carried out. And so it’s no wonder. This is exactly the reason why now we are staring into potential clobbering of the Democrats by the Republicans and by the right wing in the midterm elections."

I mean it's unbelievable what is going on in this country.

Sawant points out how "the idea is that you can actually make change by not antagonizing the powers that be and resorting to moral persuasion and prioritizing peaceful – And not just peaceful, but extremely cordial relationships with big business, politicians, with Democratic Party politicians as in Seattle, and with big business lobbyists.

Well, we threw that guidebook out the window because we understand from our study of history as socialists, as Marxists, that that is precisely what doesn’t work in the interest of the working class. And in fact, it is not an incidental idea, this pervasive idea that, well, we should all be talking nicely regardless of our position in society, and that is the way to convince rich people to hand a little bit of crumbs to those of us who don’t have any."

She is exactly right. The powers that be don't give a crap about any of us. If we're nice, they just take advantage and go about their business of raping and pillaging.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

"The Nightmare Scenario SCOTUS is Plotting For the 2024 Election Takeover"!!!

This^is really a VERY important analysis and perspective &, a salutary warning by TH!

e tenebris - tenebris!

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 1 year ago

SCOTUS Planning to Pre-Rig 2024 Election, Full Thom Hartman article here:

""This scenario isn't just plausible: it’s probable. GOP-controlled states are already changing their state laws to allow for it, regardless of how their people vote."

"Six Republicans on the Supreme Court just announced—a story that has largely flown under the nation's political radar—that they'll consider pre-rigging the presidential election of 2024."

"Republican strategists are gaming out which states have Republican legislatures willing to override the votes of their people to win the White House for the Republican candidate."

Here's how one aspect of it could work out, if they go along with the GOP's arguments that will be before the Court this October:

It's November, 2024, and the presidential race between Biden and DeSantis has been tabulated by the states and called by the networks. Biden won 84,355,740 votes to DeSantis' 77,366,412, clearly carrying the popular vote. But the popular vote isn't enough: George W. Bush lost to Al Gore by a half-million votes and Donald Trump lost to Hillary Clinton by 3 million votes but both ended up in the White House. What matters is the Electoral College vote, and that looks good for Biden, too. As CNN is reporting, the outcome is a virtual clone of the 2020 election: Biden carries the same states he did that year and DeSantis gets all the Trump states. It's 306 to 232 in the Electoral College, a 74-vote Electoral College lead for Biden, at least as calculated by CNN and the rest of the media. Biden is heading to the White House for another 4 years. Until the announcement comes out of Georgia. Although Biden won the popular vote in Georgia, their legislature decided it can overrule the popular vote and just awarded the state's 16 electoral votes to DeSantis instead of Biden. An hour later we hear from five other states with Republican-controlled legislatures where Biden won the majority of the vote, just like he had in 2020: North Carolina (15 electoral votes), Wisconsin (10), Michigan (16), Pennsylvania (20) and Arizona (11). Each has followed Georgia's lead and their legislatures have awarded their Electoral College votes—even though Biden won the popular vote in each state—to DeSantis. Thus, a total of 88 Electoral College votes from those six states move from Biden to DeSantis, who's declared the winner and will be sworn in on January 20, 2025. Wolf Blitzer announces that DeSantis has won the election, and people pour into the streets to protest. They're met with a hail of bullets as Republican-affiliated militias have been rehearsing for this exact moment and their allies among the police refuse to intervene. After a few thousand people lay dead in the streets of two dozen cities, the police begin to round up the surviving "instigators," who are charged with seditious conspiracy for resisting the Republican legislatures of their states.After he's sworn in on January 20th, President DeSantis points to the ongoing demonstrations, declares a permanent state of emergency, and suspends future elections, just as Trump had repeatedly told the world he planned for 2020.

Sound far fetched?

Six Republicans on the Supreme Court just announced that one of the first cases they'll decide next year could include whether that very scenario is constitutional or not. And it almost certainly is.

Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution lays out the process clearly, and it doesn't even once mention the popular vote or the will of the people:

"Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress... The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons … which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President." It's not particularly ambiguous, even as clarified by the 12th Amendment and the Electoral Count Act of 1887.

Neither mentions the will of the people, although the Electoral Count Act requires each state's governor to certify the vote before passing it along to Washington, DC. And half of those states have Democratic governors.

Which brings us to the Supreme Court's probable 2023 decision. As Robert Barnes wrote yesterday for The Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will consider what would be a radical change in the way federal elections are conducted, giving state legislatures sole authority to set the rules for contests even if their actions violated state constitutions and resulted in extreme partisan gerrymandering for congressional seats." While the main issue being debated in Moore v Harper, scheduled for a hearing this October, is a gerrymander that conflicts with North Carolina's constitution, the issue at the core of the debate is what's called the "Independent State Legislature Doctrine."

It literally gives state legislatures the power to pre-rig or simply hand elections to the candidate of their choice.

As NPR notes: "The independent state legislature theory was first invoked by three conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices in the celebrated Bush v. Gore case that handed the 2000 election victory to George W. Bush. In that case, the three cited it to support the selection of a Republican slate of presidential electors." That doctrine—the basis of John Eastman and Donald Trump's effort to get states to submit multiple slates of electors—asserts that a plain reading of Article II and the 12th Amendment of the Constitution says that each state's legislature has final say in which candidate gets their states' Electoral College vote, governors and the will of the voters be damned.

The Republicans point out that the Constitution says that it's up to the states—"in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct"—to decide which presidential candidate gets their Electoral College votes.

But the Electoral Count Act requires a governor's sign-off, and half those states have Democratic governors. Which has precedence, the Constitution or the Act?

If the Supreme Court says it's the US Constitution rather than the Electoral Count Act, states' constitutions, state laws, or the votes of their citizens, the scenario outlined above becomes not just possible but very likely. Republicans play hardball and consistently push to the extremes regardless of pubic opinion.

After all, the Constitution only mentions the states' legislatures—which are all Republican controlled—so the unwillingness of the Democratic governors of Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania to sign off on the Electoral College votes becomes moot.

Under this circumstance DeSantis becomes president, the third Republican president in the 21st century, and also the third Republican President to have lost the popular vote election yet ended up in the White House.

This scenario isn't just plausible: it's probable. GOP-controlled states are already changing their state laws to allow for it, and Republican strategists are gaming out which states have Republican legislatures willing to override the votes of their people to win the White House for the Republican candidate.

Those state legislators who still embrace Trump and this theory are getting the support of large pools of rightwing billionaires' dark money.

As the highly respected conservative Judge J. Michael Luttig recently wrote: "Trump and the Republicans can only be stopped from stealing the 2024 election at this point if the Supreme Court rejects the independent state legislature doctrine … and Congress amends the Electoral Count Act to constrain Congress' own power to reject state electoral votes and decide the presidency."

I take no satisfaction in having accurately predicted—in March of 2020—how Trump and his buddies would try to steal the election in January of 2021. Or how the Supreme Court would blow up the Environmental Protection Agency.

Trump's January 6th effort failed because every contested state had laws on the books requiring all of their Electoral College votes to go to whichever candidate won the popular vote in the state.

That will not be the case in 2024.

As we are watching, the Supreme Court—in collaboration with state legislatures through activists like Ginny Thomas—are setting that election up right now in front of us in real time.

We damn well better be planning for this, because it's likely coming our way in just a bit more than two short years."

From: https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/07/01/beware-supreme-court-laying-groundwork-pre-rig-2024-election

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

"Can We Stop the 27 Men Who Run America?" by Thom Hartmann:

"In 1776 we declared independence from the world’s richest man and the planet’s largest corporation. Today, we again confront a similar challenge!" Also, please try to closely consider this embedded link:

"Almost half of all the money donated to the two main super PACs supporting the GOP came from just 27 rightwing billionaires."

From your reply:"Article II,Section 1 of the Constitution lays out the process clearly and it doesn't even once mention the popular vote or the will of the people"! U$A = demoCRAZY deMOCKERYcy duopoly!

radix omnium malorum est cupiditas!

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 1 year ago

"A small number of rightwing billionaires today run the show, at least for the moment, and, according to a new study, 27 of them basically own the GOP and thus the ability to block most positive and forward action by the Biden administration."

“The nation’s roughly 750 billionaires are increasingly using their personal fortunes and the profits of connected corporations to drown out regular voters’ voices and elect hand-picked candidates who further rig the nation’s economy—especially the tax system—to make their wealthy benefactors even richer. This anti-democratic vote-buying, totaling $1.2 billion in the 2020 election cycle, has expanded greatly in recent years.”

So, the question is can we stop them?

Hartmann says "It’s within the power of Congress — if it can overcome the corruption injected into it by five Republicans on the Court — to undo much of the damage of Citizens United and the Court’s preceding decisions that set the stage for it."

"It’s still possible, if Democrats take a large enough majority this fall, to pass that legislation or something like it and begin the process of reclaiming our democracy from this corrupt Supreme Court and the billionaires it has handed our country over to."

I think it is in the power of the people, if the people have the will. Many Americans, sadly, have put their faith into these evil doers and so, unless that can be undone, America may not make it through this neo-fascist phase. Time will tell. In the meantime, don't vote Republican!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

"We Can’t Build Real Power by Defending Democrats. We Must Organize From Below." by Frank Ascaso & Adam Weaver:

Of course I agree with "don't vote Republican!" however Democrap Establishment can NOT be trusted!

The sooner a 3rd 'People Over Profit,Pro-99% Party' with a PoV past 1 election cycle arises the better!

ad iudicium?!

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 1 year ago

"The need for a radical mass movement from the left to challenge and transform the crises is more necessary than ever. Even a modicum of organized left presence has the potential to change this dynamic very quickly. For instance, by organizing mass demonstrations for abortion rights or blockades of fossil fuel infrastructure, unions, student groups, and social organizations could increase the cost on elites for these political failures and press for the urgency of change. It is possible to build these kinds of transformative movements. But so long as those taking the mantle of left strategists direct us to the Democrats and support for a crumbling system, we will continue to be mired in this political and historical morass.

There are other possible strategies and sources of inspiration. We can learn from movements around the world that push in more positive, hopeful and humane future directions." From the truthout piece above.

I'd say, Strategy 1. Avoid voting for Republican candidates at all costs. They are in a right wing cult. Strategy 2. Vote for the most progressive candidates available to you, hence the building of America from the bottom up. 3. Vote Democrat if that is the only option.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

"Capitalism Is Making Us Sick and Sucking Us Dry!" - with Kelly Hayes with Beatrice Adler-Bolton:

An important conversation (58m) that will NEVER get aired on U$A's Corporate MSM! Essential Link!!

per aspera ad astra!

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 1 year ago

The trap of capitalist thinking is that everything in the economy exists to make a profit and needs to be "paid for." It doesn't have to be that way. Certain things that really help better people's lives can even run at a monetary deficit in my opinion because the benefits they bring are intangible and cannot be counted in a monetary way to how they improve the human condition. This requires a worldview that goes beyond mere money as profit for selfish acquisition to see it in a sharing, caring and generous way so that all humans can benefit.

Here is a quote from the Truth Out interview:

"We’re always in this position where we’re being asked to sort of justify policies on these economic terms, right, where the fact of the matter is that Medicare for All, whether it would save money or not, whether it’s a good economic decision or not, it’s the right decision to figure out how to provision health care and to provide services to people who need them. And right now, what we have is a fundamentally inefficient system for providing those services. And so I think a lot of people tend to say, “Well, okay, what we can do here is we can take Medicare for All and we’re going to pitch it to people, and we’re going to say Medicare for All is going to save money.”

But fundamentally, that’s a trap, because what that does is that buys into the kind of austerity logic that a policy like Medicare for All is supposed to push back against. And in doing that, we have put ourselves in a position where we’re playing on their terms and we’re not playing on our terms. It fundamentally doesn’t really matter what Medicare for All costs. It doesn’t even matter if Medicare costs some amount that looks really proportionally good when compared to military spending. I mean, we should be spending as much money on health care as is necessary, and we need to expand beyond the very narrow approach to health care that Medicare for All takes."

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

Again .. "Strategy 1. Avoid voting for Republican candidates, at all costs. They are in a right wing cult.

"Strategy 2. Vote for the most progressive candidates available to you, hence the building of America from the bottom up.

"Strategy 3. Vote Democrat - if that is the only option." + Further to the quote above please also try to

dum spiro, spero ...

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 1 year ago

"In Everything for Everyone, we depict a new social institution as the basis of day-to-day life: the commune. People live in collective communes of several hundred people spread out across several buildings. They eat together as a commune, make decisions in big meetings, and get most of their day-to-day care through the commune. People can still form families — or “family together,” as one character puts it — but these families are not an economic unit and not the sole close social relationships. If a family chooses to separate, it doesn’t have as massive an impact as it might in our world.

Importantly, I do not think what we call communes today could prefigure this society. Communes today largely depend on property ownership and wealth for their stability, like normative families do. Without it, it can be difficult to maintain collective living. Treating each other well is extraordinarily difficult to maintain in a capitalist society. The basic features of racial capitalism — like racist state violence, or the pressures of reproducing ourselves through paid work — all create contradictions and conflicts within households, even within the most radical communities.

What I would instead point to are the examples of insurgent social reproduction: moments where people in the middle of mass rebellions collectively address issues of sleeping, food, safety, education, in radically new ways. I am thinking here of protest camps like Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline, rare brief moments in the urban camps of Occupy Wall Street, and mass urban uprisings like the Oaxaca Commune of 2006. These are necessarily temporary and precarious, because they are in direct confrontation with the state and capital. I imagine these being the beginnings of new practices of social reproduction."

This sounds fascinating. I can only "hope" that it comes to pass.

I would call this an "oral projection" of the future rather than an "oral history," however lol.

[-] 0 points by grapes (5232) 1 year ago

By my reckoning since the Robert Bork for Supreme Court Justice nomination hearings, three Justices' seats have been stolen. Robert Bork wanted to have abortion legality be left to the states as it is now.

Hopefully, the Congressional political machinations and shenanigans over the decades regarding the Supreme Court Justice nomination process since the mid-1980s hasn't turned the U.S. into one similar to an old banana republic of the kind in Central and South America yet.

In the 19th century, the Supreme Court had a period in which it was totally irrelevant, incompetent, and impotent. That is the true nature of power. Where does power reside ? In the minds of the believers. Buddha's statue was "made of clay." Jesus Christ and the Cross were "carved out of wood" and smeared bloody red at the wounds. The bickering ones were all "committing idolatry," according to a peaceable ¿Islamic? witness to the quarrel. Amitabha, amen, Allahu Akbar ! -- they were just kids arguing about their faiths to others, and there were adults who hadn't committed adulteries around.

I as a curious child checked the altar in my spiritual godfather's temple. He was a drawing on a sheet of perhaps ¿paper? I did learn that paper was a Chinese invention so he was quite reasonably "depicted on paper," very Chinese alright. My Mom believed in probability so she had gained an unshakable faith in my spiritual godfather and did a rather strange ritual with and for me. I know that it was past midnight in our front yard facing South because there was the full moon high up in the sky (Staedtler colored-pencils' LUNA: "there's a fairy crew out boating; boating, boating in the sky") moving down towards the right as the water was dripped drop-by-drop into the round bowl making ripples refracting and reverberating the moonlight. I had a déjà vu making a Hong-Konger's sweet favorite, milk-tea: adding milk drop-by-drop to a round cup of very hot red tea in college cafeteria, after learning Schrödinger's Equation and electronic orbitals. There were ripples, i.e. surface harmonics, reverberating in eigenstates and the milk was diffusing in swirls into chaos and then pervasive uniformity.

Here's a simple model of how the Cosmos' ( sufficient for CHNOPS to create Life: Z the atomic number preceding chemical element's symbol: 6C 1H 7N 8O 15P 16S ) light atoms' chemistry is originated: get two emptied-out Ferrero-Rocher slab-shaped transparent plastic trays with the square-lattice dimpled plastic insert still in them, one for the first of K electron shell with principal quantum number n=1 and the other higher one for the second or L electron shell with principal quantum number n=2; prop up one corner of the second one; peel the shells off of four magical-number-two-[again to ensure at least one new peanut plant will probably grow]-seeded peanuts, split the kernels into halves; drop randomly into the tray half of a peanut kernel at a time starting with the lowest-lying lattice dimple while making sure that only two peanut kernel halves can reside in a single dimple with the two in the pair having their flat sides being one up and one down (i.e. the two have opposite spins); if three halves had landed in the same dimple, move one up to a higher-lying dimple. If you view these halves of peanut kernels as electrons with spins and the dimples as different-energy atomic orbitals "n-l-m eigenstates," you can see the electronic structure of a light atom being built up. The first Ferrero-Rocher tray is for accommodating hydrogen H with a single half peanut kernel and helium He with two half peanut kernels in the same dimple facing opposite directions with one up and one down. Lithium Li corresponds to having the second tray with a single half peanut kernel stacked on top of the first one with the He configuration; both being slanted towards their corners with the half peanut kernels. We are using gravitational potential energy of the half peanut kernels relative to the bottom tray's corner to model the electric potential energy of the electrons relative to the atom's nucleus.

Also if you try to determine the position of a half peanut kernel lying on a hard-topped table by staking out its position with your finger to probe where it is, it slides away. This illustrates physically the Uncertainty Principle: you know where the electron was from your probing but you don't know precisely where it has squirted to due to your probing. Boundary conditions of quantum theory which uses integers for the quantum numbers n, l, m sub l, m sub s created the square-lattice structure of the dimples which when the trays are stacked up make the dimples form an inverted-ziggurat lattice structure so in filling it up, God is definitely playing dice with the half peanut kernels.

As in the case of the two extremely sour (but helping me discover citrus-fruits' ability to relieve some ¿CoViD-19-perhaps? breathing difficulty) kumquat kernels I ate in childhood, I got the power to conceal God's gambling habit used in creating "The [Physical and Chemical] Book of [Biological] Life" by chewing up and eating all of the half peanut kernels [of course, again, only after my Big Brother'd eaten all of the Ferrero-Rocher chocolate balls to leave me with their packaging to play, with a few peanuts].

What was left over was profound to Life. (e.g. Examine ancient garbage dumps to learn about ancient societies {anthropology} and middens about ants {entomology} ) Being unable to monitor contiuously my body well except through feelings, I examine my daily integration products: excrement if any and piss ("with or without trumpery consistency characteristics," "beautiful, beautifully golden, or not") to see "around the corner" to my health. It's like applying Noether's theorem to personal healthcare.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

"Beware: Supreme Court is Laying Groundwork to Pre-Rig the 2024 Election"! [Thom Hartmann]:

"This scenario isn't just plausible - it’s probable. GOP-controlled states are already changing their state laws to allow for it, regardless of how their people vote."

SO - RE.bw's IMPORTANT REPLY; FK YOUR "RECKONING" & YOUR 4 PAST PARAS (2,3,4,3 lines) NOW METASTASIZED INTO 7 PARAS OF CRAP - did you read the link, U $H!T SPEWING MORON?

ad iudicium?!

[-] 0 points by grapes (5232) 1 year ago

go about their business of raping and pillaging

That sounds like what Russian oligarchs and their much-feared puppet regime are doing. Russians' emulating the Tartars or Mongols in their aggression is stupid. Ancient China fought much warfare with them (over millennia). It's not aggression but cultural assimilation which worked (two of the five {the total number was at least fifty, I vaguely recall} major Chinese ethnicities nowadays are the Manchus and the Mongols, both having been conquering nomadic tribes which had their own imperial dynasties ruling China).

We are still eating mooncakes annually to this very day to commemorate overthrowing the Mongols' dynasty founded by Genghis Khan (which stationed Mongol troops among the people and severely restricted the possession of even kitchen knives). I was under the impression that some Tartars were living near ancient China's western border and there were Chinese wars from time to time resulting in their moving west to Europe. Others such as the Huns (to ¿Hungary?) and some Turkic peoples (to ¿Türkiye?) were also driven west largely by wars, too. Nomadic [raiding] peoples who didn't write things down weren't easily traced ( the Chinese attitude was probably something like "good riddance -- we don't know and we don't care where they go or end up as long as it's away"; steppe nomads of primarily northern and some western China, and Chinese agriculturists have had wealth-inequality conflicts from ancient times -- the Great Wall of China was erected to keep the nomads away; the Tartars probably didn't conquer China as the Mongols, and the Manchus { of northeastern China and southeastern Russian Far East/Chinese Far North/Japanese Far Northwest; "billions of Manchu-descended-and-ruled Chinese must obtain what are their rights !!!"; we must all help the oppressed people of the Chinese Far North to declare their independence from Moscow and form via a "special anal operation" the Free People's Republic of FU/富 Manchu/滿洲 } did so we don't have a day of commemoration of the starting or finishing day of overthrowing the Tartars as we do for the Mongols and the Manchus; some of Tartars' descendants are called Tatars who form one of the more than fifty ethnicities of China so not all Tartars went/were driven to Europe ).

I knew that some of my ancient ancestors were definitely non-Chinese because they had left heritable traits, familial artificially made-up bestowed Chinese-office-related surnames and genetic, which were traceable. Others were of very ancient Chinese lineage. ( I studied ancient Chinese History but I no longer recall it vividly after half a century or more not recalling or using it much at all { I wasn't receptive because it was a required subject with lots of names and dates which I've mostly forgotten } -- I think the Bible is correct to state that forty years were enough for the Israelites to wander in the desert wilderness so that the generation which had committed the idolatry of the golden calf could pass away and the memories of the sin faded ). If one looks far back enough in one's ancestry, perhaps everyone will find that every one is all a hybrid crossing tribal, ethnic, cultural, and national boundaries because the number of ancesters tends to double with each generation traced back into the past (at least for the recent millennia until the inevitable ancient inbreeding set in). Another near-certainty is that one was sometime in the past derived from incest(s) and bastards. The Bible stated that Lot the God-blessed one had sexual intercourses with his daughters and had children through them because they were so alone by themselves after the others had been wiped out, being buried by burning sulfur, turned into salt like Lot's disobedient wife who had looked back, and incinerated in ¿what sounded like a volcanic? eruption. If we look near where Israel is, we can see that it's indeed probable that there had been volcanic eruptions there in the past. For example, plate-tectonics implies that Jordan River's valley and the Red Sea are probable branches of the Rift Valley of East Africa and there may be the denser-mineral wealth which had come up from deep in the Earth ( akin to the iron ore of western Australia which solidified earliest from the molten Earth ).

The Original Americans set seven generations as their statute of limitation for keeping their land fit for posterity's usage (they try not to pollute so much that the land becomes unfit for their progeny before the seventh generation has lived through it) so the duration is seven generations times forty years per generation = two hundred and eighty years from the time their land was stolen from them. If we take the founding of the U.S.A. in 1776 C.E., they have until 1776 + 280 C.E. = 2056 C.E. to get their land back. As for the Black slaves, their claims for their ancestors who had arrived in 1620 C.E. has already expired according to the Original Americans' reckoning because 1620 + 280 C.E. = 1900 C.E., which was 122 years ago.

Reckoning from the time when the Republican Party abandoned the Reconstruction of the South in favor of gaining the Presidency with an unwritten compromise in the aftermath of the Election of 1876 C.E., the Blacks have until 1876 + 280 C.E. = 2156 C.E. to seek redress for their being abandoned by both major parties (the Democratic Party was the K.K.K. Party and the Republican Party was the party of the assassinated President Abraham Lincoln who was gay {i.e. homosexual, yay !!! "Free at last ! Free at last !" my Mom had nothing to be sheepish about her three mistakes regarding my spiritual godfather and the other two deities in his temple; my Big Brother was always digging into rabbit holes regarding Mom's mistaken notions and confusions: my spiritual godfather wasn't Buddhist《he was Daoist/Taoist》; he was vegetarian《serving up the best freshest live-killed chicken to him was "way off"》; Guanyin wasn't really a woman because she was a man in India; Mom overcame her chagrin from his digging's results with her firm belief in my spiritual godfather, saying that he knew everything before she had even opened her mouth and would tolerate and forgive any of her mistakes -- faith conquers all; she had an attitude and air !!! No big deal... a GOOPy bar of soap cleaned me right up after my having returned home, shrouded in dirt from a local garbage dump -- a neighbor had told her, "Only his two eyes were cleanly visible"; differences between Daoism/Taoism and Buddhism were "over [her] head" -- "I don't know and I don't care" as a GOOPy doo would say: 我唔知, 我唔識, 我唔懂, 我唔care, 我係Karen; my Big Brother in his secret remarks to me labeled her -- 時局撚化, 我哋唔肯化. 『香港真係好撚靚』、『我真係好撚鍾意香港』兩句都係害人嘅精神白粉. -- as having quintessentially 唔化 attitude; 《屌你老母》《屌你新母》: just pass the tarred-and-defeathered hahahalal chicken to Confuçius to eat in the Chinese Crabs' Party; mercy dispensed from a transgender Guanyin is still mercy, notwithstanding her "big feet" or what's in her crotch; when my Mom took me to a Buddhist temple for making ritualistic things necessary for funerals and "the afterlife," I didn't try to discover whether it was a monastery or a nunnery by grabbing the crotches of the bald-headed gray-robe-garbed ones; here's another confusing item to me: if a person has died, that person by definition has no life whatsoever, how can there still be an "afterlife" for that person ? The only person in the U.S. who had actually discussed "religion" with me [ in a private-home setting due to our talking about my deceased parents who I had believed were "Buddhists" -- my Big Brother, based upon his warren digging, might have called them Taoist Bodhisattva Confusians, I suppose.. ] told me that Buddhism is a philosophy, not a religion so if one dies, one's consciousness disappears, for what then were all those funerals and ritualistic things ? it must be for the ones who are still alive; that Buddhist temple may not have been genuinely Buddhist at all; oh, say, can't you see: atheism, monotheism, bitheism, tritheism.. polytheism.. pantheism.. are all compatible, right ? ignorance is bliss: x = y, y = z, z > x; religious Confusionism may be a heritable trait, protected by the First Amendment } ).

It's time for Russia's very capable airpower as already been proven in Ukraine to execute the Kaliningrad Airlift to put the Berlin Airlift to shame. 》Ich bin ein Königsberger !《 ich bin ein Frankfurter; sie ist ein Hamburger...

Israel had blocked any concrete import { breaching Israel's naval blockade } into Gaza City so concrete was classified as a military warring material. If Gazans could make concrete fly, I'm confident that MiGs and Sukhois can make it fly, too.

Losing after a strong & earnest fight is still glorious. Being in second place doesn't invite all of the arrows aiming at the back of the first-place holder who having fought the second-place holder has gained respect for the second-place holder's prowess but without growing envious & still feeling a bit secure, with the Kaliningrad Airlift to feed the starving Zureiche poor.

猫语录: 坚持到底就是老书

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Peierls gave first computations of how little [highly purified] fissile material was needed to create a nuclear bomb. Allied's graphite vs. Nazi-conquered Norway's hydroelectric/NH4 plant's D2O => copycat Stool-in's Chernobyl graphite fire => U.S.S.R. breakup => Russia-Ukraine [Marx:]"Engine of Progress" => missed plantings/fertilizing => famine & jihad я ?!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

Re. your Logorrhea - do consider:

MULTUM in parvo et temet nosce!

[-] 0 points by grapes (5232) 1 year ago

President Poo-tin begs his Special Nuts to come home from Bellum-Rus. Kaliningrad Airlift was hot, bigly hot, bigglier hott, 1-800-HOT-HOTT !

"So go home. We love you. You are very special. You've seen what happens." Hail to Socialism, Marx's "Engine of Progress."

per aspera ad astra ! Betelgeuse, not yet but later on in our reference frame's time ? Every star exhausts its internal fuel unless it has a sustainable external source of energy or it accretes from nearby and expands its Lebensraum.

Why are the stars surrounding me ? I must be the center of the Universe ! I'd even seen them spinning around Polaris following conaxial circles of the celestial sphere at a starry night. The Big Dipper showed up in the first painting of the video.

Swirling clouds in violet haze, 
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of China Blue.
Colors changing hue, 
morning field of amber grain, 
Weathered faces lined in pain, 
Are soothed beneath the [maniacal] Artist's loving [kaon] Hand.

kaon & CP violation => T violation exists as guaranteed by CPT theorem; there exists "arrow of time".

The boat in the water at dusk reminded me of our heirloom shellacked (obviously prepared and protected against wetness for the two migrants' run to Hong Kong; I used shellac varnish in high school so I knew for what it was although I didn't know it as a young child about 4 or 5 years old when I first saw the painting [there was duck-shaped Africa as well as two eyes atop an open or yelling mouth in ö of Königsberg marked in the old [binding-fraying and sections-starting-to-breakoff] atlas; Danzig was nearby; the atlas had probably come from the males of my family lineage because my Mom couldn't have brought it along on her run as it was fairly big and not waterproof) painting (one I'd call "Hope") of a fishingman's boat with a net setting out at dawn by our family's professional artist who drew the huge portrait of Mao for the founding ceremony of the PRC. My parents probably gifted the heirloom painting to a learned university-graduate former-businessman counselor who'd alerted them of upcoming opportunities such as the various ways of "enhancing [our] connections to Hong Kong's Government" (we made his marks) and also ghostwriter who'd helped with writing letters and filling out application forms ( his receiving the necessarily small 《carried-on-my-Mom's-run-with-a-kid-in-tow》painting is purely my speculation because what else { it'd somehow disappeared from the west-facing window's wooden sill of our three-people unless Dad was at home then four-people family's single one-bed&"a bed"<=chairs+woodenplank room before we moved away from our shantytown for good } could my parents have gifted away for favors ? as they were nearly completely illiterate and my Big Brother was at the time neither literary nor life-experienced, which could only sometimes come with age ).

I don't know what'd happened to the other heirloom item, the greenish with a few laminar air bubbles glass bottle holding a bit of [probably opium extract] residual liquid at its bottom. My guess is that the liquid just evaporated all away because we'd never needed to take it to stop dysentery or travelers' diarrhea. Its significant life-saving meaning was probably lost on anyone who didn't know its history.

It's better to have a back-up medicine that was "wasted" than otherwise. The Manhattan fallout shelter in the basement was similarly "wasted" but it was so much better never to have needed to use it. If Exxon Valdez had been double-hulled, the major oil spill in Alaska probably wouldn't have happened. The magical number is two, a "moderation" compromise between reliability and economy. Eating at fancy restaurants taught me more than moderation (with drinking too much coffee in a single sitting): in what order we eat different foods matter a lot in how well we feel and how long we stay satiated but not bloated. The order is water, salad/vegetables, protein and/or oily food, carbohydrates, and sweet desserts and/or fruits. There's actually much good logic behind this order to support great health.

Surprisingly, many things which can contribute to our great health cost very little: chewing thoroughly before swallowing, breathing fresh clean air to welcome dawn, sleeping more by minimizing using artificial lighting, drinking cups of water (I tried 16 to 32 fl.oz.) upon waking up to help excreting, eating food in healthy order to nourish microbiome (which was the essence of the feces-in-a-pill-form highly probable cure for certain gastrointestinal diseases; we all have microbiomes because we all have some shit in our intestines for certain,) get short (shorter than a few minutes of full-sun) exposure to sunlight's ultraviolet rays to get some free anti-depressant vitamin-D (which is synthesized from subdermal cholesterol so there was a healthy reason why I'd enjoyed my Mom's exotic gourmet delicacy of porcine fat/lard with salt on rice; my [classic-good-taste (yep, his decades-old wardrobe worn by me attracted women's attention and inspired a break-in to my car on another occasion: along with fairly worthless things, I lost my dirty underwear pants, hahaha !!! )] Dad mentioned that he had eaten a variant but it was made with sesame oil instead of porcine fat/lard; my Big Brother dismissed it outright as starvation diet -- he's obviously not privy to the breakthrough run-away successes of Juché in many "socialist" countries such as D.P.R.K., Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, and hopefully soon the nova D.P.R. Rustia, with Cuba being so great in healthcare because of the U.S. helping Cuba achieve its glorious Juché via the long-lasting sanctions,) fasting, etc. Many of these actually save money and/or trigger body's own regenerative mechanisms.

It seems that as stated in the Bible numerically with the lifespans of many pre-Tower-of-Babel patriarchs, man was indeed initially "made to be very long-lived" (far exceeding six scores of years) because there are many innate regenerative mechanisms. Feeling comfortable and healthy is a worthwhile goal and it's fairly achievable with knowledge and some moderation. We need to be bottom-oriented. The incidental goal is to produce for the rest of life much great shit and nice pale yellow pee (i.e. body exhaust carrying away the inflammation, debris, and chaos leaving an improved and built-back-better body behind; sleeping and fasting are very efficient way of producing body exhaust because I certainly don't eat so there is little input although I may drink water while fasting, and I don't go shopping spending money { an input to many activities but not much additionally on sleeping more in my own bed } or getting into many troubles, while sleeping; e.g. if I don't cross the street, I tend not to be run down by a vehicle, as dictated by my Mom's condition for me to roam free within our shantytown's limits).

I like Yakut ice-cream with berries better than Königsberger's. It's cool.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

Alas, your incorrigible logorrhea continues, unabated!

Meanwhile & per the OP, perhaps also try to consider:

https://monthlyreview.org/2009/05/01/why-socialism ?

by no less a man of logic & love, than Albert Einstein!

And WHY are U spewing shit on my posts yet again ?

e tenebris lux?

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 years ago

''The Third Way is the Past. Socialism is the Future!'' by Paul Heideman:

Which ends:''Old-fashioned socialism,it turns out, is the “good old thing” best suited for combating the “bad new things”, of modern capitalism. Corbyn & Sen.Sanders have upended their respective parties precisely by holding on to Socialism even when it was desperately unfashionable to do so. They were able to do so because they understood, as the Italian novelist Giuseppe Lampedusa put it - “Because things are the way they are, they cannot stay the way they are.”

commune bonum est summum bonum!

[-] 2 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 years ago

''Is the DNC Once Again Orchestrating the Defeat of a Socialist Candidate?'' ... by Marjorie Cohn:

From which: ''In 1944, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) ensured that socialist Henry Wallace would not succeed Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) as president. Is history going to repeat itself in 2020?

''Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders - received the most votes in the first three primary elections. After centrist Joe Biden scored his first primary win ... DNC consolidated the Democratic Party establishment around him. Candidates Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar immediately dropped out & endorsed Biden, as did former candidate Beto O’Rourke. Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, who'd already quit the primary race, followed suit and Michael Bloomberg did so as well. The party bosses likely wanted to ensure that Sanders would not upend the corporate order.''

verbum satis sapienti ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 3 years ago

"Trump Is Trying to Scare You With the “Socialism” Boogeyman"! ... by Peter Montague:

per aspera ad astra ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 3 years ago

"Bolivians Return Evo Morales’s Party to Power One Year After a US-Applauded Coup" by Glenn Greenwald:

"Right-wing forces cheered by the U.S. tried to destroy one of Latin America’s most vibrant democracies. Voters just restored it."

commune bonnum est summum bonnum!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 2 years ago

"Somewhere, beneath the ruins of today’s torn and bloodied Afghanistan ... are the seeds that remain even in the direst times within the hearts of people who know there is a better future for humanity.In a world struggling for economic and social justice—not revenge—those seeds will sprout again." .. from:

respice; adspice; prospice et spero meliora ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 2 years ago

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” (John Steinbeck)

The prevention of ANY semblance of Collective Class Consciousness .. is The US 1%'s obsession!

et veritas vos liberabit!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 2 years ago

"Chile Votes for Socialism Over Fascism (with) 'Historically Large Win'" - by 'Common Dreams'

per aspera ad astra!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 2 years ago

"Amid Apocalyptic Cynicism - Let’s Embrace Radical Hope in the New Year"! .. by Henry A. Giroux;

respice et prospice!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

"A new book inspired by Rosa Luxemburg's famous letters shows how dialogue

can happen across a very diverse and often - divided international Left!" -- from:

respice; adspice; prospice!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

"Rosa Luxemburg on the Meaning of May Day"

"As long as the struggle of the workers against the ruling class continues, May Day will be the yearly expression of our demands." Read "Rosa Luxemburg on the meaning of International Workers' Day."

respice; adspice; prospice!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

"Why Marx Still Matters?"

"Karl Marx was born on this day in 1818. His work remains as relevant as ever."

& "In this interview, David Harvey speaks with journalist Daniel Denvir about Marx’s work, his understanding of capitalism’s contradictions, and why his ideas endure so long after his time."

respice et adspice!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 2 years ago

"Class Struggle defines most of human history - Marx got this right!!! It is not a new story. The rich, throughout history - have found ways to subjugate and re-subjugate the masses. And the masses, throughout history, have cyclically awoken to throw off their chains." - from:

respice; adspice; prospice!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 2 years ago

"Remembering Antonio Gramsci":

"Antonio Gramsci was born on this day in 1891. We remember his revolutionary life and his contributions to the struggle against capitalism."

respice, adspice, prospice et per aspera ad astra!

[-] 2 points by beautifulworld (23767) 4 years ago

The Citizens United Travesty is 10 years old today and this too cannot stay the way it is (relating to the article above and comment by Lampedusa).

"Supreme Court's Citizens United mistake just turned 10 years old. It's time to reverse it."

"A decade later, we must advance our fight to put voters back in charge of Washington and restore the faith of the American people in our democracy."

From: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/supreme-court-s-citizens-united-mistake-just-turned-ten-years-ncna1119826

"The toxic influence of money in our elections touches every issue we face as a nation. And makes it harder to solve problems by empowering special interest groups. For example, over 90 percent of Americans want stronger background checks for gun purchases and 7 out of 10 want action to respond to climate change, but money in politics is a big reason why we can’t get it done."

Senator Sanders understands that if we don't overturn Citizens United we continue to march on the path toward oligarchy. That is not what our founding fathers envisioned and it is exactly what they feared.

Capitalism on steroids, which is what Citizens United is, can only be stomped out by an economy that works for all people and that would be socialistic in its nature.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 years ago

''Capitalism on steroids'' is the reason for the ''Age of Anger'' (Pankaj Mishra & Chris Hedges):

I really can't recommend this excellent video enough to U - and to all who still read and learn here.

respice; adspice; prospice …

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 4 years ago

The "utopia of consumerism" has turned out to be a dystopia/nightmare for most.

Hedges and Mishra talk about the destruction of the village, self sufficiency in agriculture, the forms of association and human solidarity have been destroyed across the world. Dislocation of the self, the result of the destruction of things that endow meaning to human life.

Hedges says it's a spiritual crisis. Mishra says a psychological crisis. Goes beyond just economic crisis. This assault creates a tremendous increase in mutual hatred and a pitting of people against one another.

We end up with a world where people are atomized and alienated and stuck in malaise.

Great video, worth a watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClVfqz3DXbw

[-] 2 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 years ago

Q: Where's Socialism ever worked? A: Everywhere!''

summum bonum est commune bonum!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 years ago

''Capitalism is the Planet’s Cancer: Operate Before it’s too Late'', by G. Monbiot:

ad iudicium?!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 years ago

"Why Socialism?" by Albert Einstein:

et fiat lux ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 2 years ago

Note how .. "US Military Training Manual describes Socialism as ‘Terrorist Ideology’ – report":

e tenebris - tenebris?!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 2 years ago

Yet now a "Poll Finds Socialism Increasingly Seen as 'Badge of Pride' in US" ... by Kenny Stancil:

"Two-thirds of U.S. adults - want the federal government to implement policies to reduce the worsening gap between rich and poor." As a direct result of the above, note RW reaction that follows, via below ...

respice et prospice!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 2 years ago

Re. Socialism "Are you concerned that someone you know is becoming a Socialist?"

"WTF?!"

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 2 years ago

"‘Unfortunately 'Millennial Socialism’ - isn’t just a Twitter phenomenon"by Kristian Niemietz:

From such expressly RW "Free Market" Organisations, this is both interesting and very revealing.

multum in parvo?

[-] 1 points by grapes (5232) 4 years ago

Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 years ago

Yes & did U read Einstein's essay?

spero!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 years ago

''Socialist is another American dirty word, one that is being used against Sen. Bernie Sanders. I've not turned into a socialist overnight. I am simply thinking outloud. How can the economy recover when the population and corporations are smothered by debt? Debt forgiveness is The Only way out of this debt suffocation. So can debts be forgiven without nationalization? Not without a huge giveaway to financial mangers and Wall Street. It's the members of the “one percent” who've received 95% of the increase in US income and wealth since 2008. Do we really want to reward them for smothering the economy with debt by bailing them out without nationalizing them?

''The combination of an economy covered in debt and an unprotected population is clearly revolutionary. Do we have leadership capable of breaking out of interest group politics and ruling ideologies in order to save our society and put it on a more sustainable basis?

''Or will the economic hardships be blamed on the virus ... the catalyst that ignited the debt time-bomb?''

e tenebris - lux?!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 3 years ago

Consider: ''Coronavirus Might Make Socialists Of Us All'' now or soon! [ ... by James Muldoon]:

"4 day week, free childcare & a universal income are no longer distant issues - they're life & death!"

ad iudicium?

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 4 years ago

California polls are open now and all through the night to 8pm tomorrow, Super Tuesday, March 3rd.

Bring it home for Bernie Sanders!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 3 years ago

Join us: http://dsausa.org/join. from ...

"More than 12,000 New card-carrying Socialists since October 1. Together there is nothing we cannot accomplish." For actual Leftists disillusioned with The Despicable Duopoly 2 Step, this is a way to go!

per aspera ad astra ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 years ago

''Highway: Socialism / Car: Capitalism'' - for Cali & beyond ...

et veritas vos liberabit!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 3 years ago

So, "Democrats’ job during the first 100 days of the Biden administration is to make it absolutely clear whose side they are on, and who is on the other side. That’s not only good public policy to strengthen our country. It’s how to win elections in the future." - from ...

et fiat lux ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 years ago

''Turns out 'Socialist' isn't such a bad word anymore!'' ... from:

et veritas vos liberabit!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 2 years ago

"Bronx Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - best known as AOC, is DSA’s foremost socialist superstar. Her June 2018 primary win — a 29-year-old taqueria bartender ... defeating the third most powerful Democrat in the US House of Representatives - inspired up to 10,000 people to join DSA."! from ...

per aspera ad astra ...

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 4 years ago

4 in 10 Americans embrace socialism in some form:

https://news.gallup.com/poll/257639/four-americans-embrace-form-socialism.aspx

And, socialism is as popular as capitalism in America:

https://news.gallup.com/poll/268766/socialism-popular-capitalism-among-young-adults.aspx

From Truth Out, Rivers-Pitt article, above:

"Sanders has the Democratic Party scared witless, in no small part because too many party officials still think it’s 1992. If (when) Biden collapses, and if Buttigieg and Klobuchar lack the horses to match Sanders down the stretch, the Democratic establishment may try to hand the nomination to a racist gadfly billionaire because they’re afraid Donald Trump will call Sanders a “socialist.”

What the DNC misses is how popular socialism actually is in America. Some of the things Americans love best about America are things that are "socialist" in nature like public schools, social security, medicare, medicaid, our public transport system, etc.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 2 years ago

"Recall Campaign Against Socialist Kshama Sawant Is Backed By Billionaires"! [T.Walicek]

multum in parvo!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 2 years ago

"Seattle Socialist City Councilor Kshama Sawant - has been subject to repeated corporate-backed attempts to remove her from office. Last night she defeated yet another. Despite attacks from some of the world’s most powerful capitalists, Sawant isn’t going anywhere."

per aspera ad astra!

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 2 years ago

"Congress Now Has More Socialists Than Ever Before in U.S. History The high-water mark for socialists elected to national office is in step with a proud tradition in American politics."

https://inthesetimes.com/article/democratic-socialism-dsa-aoc-bernie-sanders-congress

Re. Sawant, she says "We won because we did not back down."

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/seattle-recall-sawant/

If we keep fighting, we will win.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 2 years ago

"Sanders Pushes Workers to Organize as Advocates Celebrate “Year of the Worker”! - by Sharon Zhang:

"If we keep fighting, we will win!"

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 2 years ago

"Why Socialism?" - by Albert Einstein:

pax, amor et lux; nunc, ubique et semper!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 years ago

The Oligarch "Bloomberg Said Young People Support Bernie Because They're Dumb"! .. by Daniel Neuhauser:

This mthrfkr is so detached - that he has no fkn idea wTf is going on in USA! He has no idea whatsoever that: "4 in 10 Americans embrace socialism in some form" OR that "socialism is as popular as capitalism in America"!! IF Bloomberg does succeed in wining the Dem-Nom, the Democraps will finally be finished & w/any allusion that they are a party for The 99% destroyed!! In truth of course, they've been retreating from Pro-The People Policies for over two generations now!!! Finally, re. the Bloomberg bid ...

CAVEAT EMPTOR!

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 4 years ago

Bloomberg is an oligarch. He's a billionaire that should be running as a Republican. He should be primarying Trump. He has no place in the party that is supposed to be for the working people.

What has happened to the Democratic Party? Perhaps we need a new party to represent the people.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-02-20/bloomberg-running-as-a-republican

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/bloomberg-tells-democrats-they-need-him-not-everyone-agrees-n1139626

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/02/20/mike-bloomberg-other-democrats-say-he-should-step-aside-not-them/4823981002/

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/02/why-democrats-should-not-nominate-bloomberg-sexual-harassment-plutocracy.html

Step aside billionaire.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 years ago

''Biden’s Long Career Shows a Predisposition for Appeasing the Right'' .. by Amy Goodman & Juan González of 'Democracy Now!' (Video & Transcript) ...

cave canem!

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 4 years ago

Joe Biden cannot defeat Trump.

Joe Biden supported:

  • NAFTA
  • DOMA (ban on gay marriage)
  • War in Iraq
  • War in Afghanistan
  • war on drugs
  • anti-busing laws
  • mass incarceration
  • bankruptcy "reform"
  • repeal of Glass-Steagall
  • the Patriot Act
  • marijuana prohibition

From https://twitter.com/GravelInstitute/status/1235394289691054080

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 years ago

''JOE BIDEN’S SUPER PAC is being organized by Corporate Lobbyists for HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY, WEAPONS MAKERS & FINANCE''! - by Lee Fang:

caveat emptor!

[-] 0 points by grapes (5232) 4 years ago

Bloomberg is using the same rule as Sanders is in order to run as a Democrat. The Democratic Party allowed open primaries and caucuses in order to capture the Black electorate decades ago.

Since then, there have been and still are many Black politicians who wield power. However, having political power doesn't translate to not being discriminated against, nor does having economic power as the Jews and increasingly the Indians. There's a kind of disdain arising from taking too much advantage of others or doing seedy or despicable things. Queen Victoria wanted to be known as the Queen of India but note now how far India ( which holds the jurisdiction over the attacks against the journalists, Kashmir with its semi-autonomous rights written down in agreements, or women in public gang rapes with crowds cheering on but hopefully the turtle has learnt from its trip to the s..thole the segregational upper-caste "namaste" to avoid the viral contagion ) has fallen under Colonialism ( or Independence afterward ) !

Let me be politically incorrect here. All of the robbers who had robbed me or my parental family ( all New Yorkers for decades ) members were B l a c k! Yeah, our limited empirical observation showed that the fear of the Blacks had a well-founded basis, regardless of its origin in poverty, discrimination, or slavery, etc. ( It's important to know the nature, adjacencies, and boundaries of the neighborhoods, even in glitzy Manhattan--Tessa Majors from out of state probably didn't know that Morningside Park which separates [largely Black] Harlem from "the Academic Acropolis" [a.k.a. White Harlem] on Morningside Heights is not only a physical divide, but a class and racial [porous] barrier as well. Tessa Majors could have used my Mom's great tried-and-true never-failed-me criterion for identifying terrorists and child kidnappers in order to run away and escape from her demise. ) It's not to say that Whites don't have an a t t i t u d e problem of being arrogant and fond of bullying the others. I personally feel that skin-color politics or color superiority/inferiority is just plainly s t u p i d.

It may be as ridiculous as segregating people into the superior rulers and the inferior ruled serfs based on whether their earlobes are attached to the sides of their faces or not. Maybe we should all adopt my Mom's very successful method which she had taught me how to identify child kidnappers and terrorists as well as how to distinguish between the two. She did hang the stone coin on the silver chain around my neck but I doubt that it actually did any good in warding off the child kidnappers and terrorists because I was quick in the eyes and fast on my feet ( despite my often being alone doing "anthropological research" or building "the New Rome" for the ants in a neighborhood garbage dump ). Yeah, I feel sorry for the fishes' massacre but without using logic, a knee-jerk reaction from the child football/soccer player brought on Noah's Flood that had seared into my Big Brother's and my own memory for decades already to this very day.

[-] 0 points by grapes (5232) 4 years ago

The excesses of Neoliberalism can be cleaned up with a dustbin and a broom. We need to get Socialism to form the dustbin and then swerve back toward the more balanced middle-of-the-road center before we have gone too far and fallen into the ditch on the left side. As an experienced janitor in my first job, I tell you all that reversing the dustbin-then-broom sequence had never worked when we have already swerved too far toward the right side of our political road. We don't sweep vigorously with the broom ( we've tried that prematurely with Uncle Tom assed by the Retards in our Lost Decade--no NYPD's ruddy broom but only Dixie "We're-American"-dicks for the Mason-Dixon Line ) before we have put the dustbin in place.

Look at the example of how New York got back to being the safest large city in the U.S. It's not Rudy Giuliani's NYPD's big broomstick being shoved up the anus of an overly baked clay mannequin. It's the relief programs already put into place as the dustbin. Once the dustbin is in place, the hard broomsticking up theirs does get the stuff going into the proper collection. I could even sense the growth of community respect for ( by the elderly ) or just plain fear ( probably of the youknowwhat ) of the police. No matter what it was, fear or respect or both, New York became much less crime-ridden.

The systematic bottom-oriented approach to every process could have guided us to the policy formulation for New York's crime reduction. The ordered list of items to be considered are: outputs, inputs, controls, attributes, process, throughput, and figures of merit. The success of the scientific revolution stemmed from its foundational belief that events are probably mostly knowable, understandable, and predictable. Mythological stories were creations of proto-scientific endeavors to understand events. The scientific method of empirical experimentation provided the feedback loop necessary to grind away the lurid excesses of hypotheses. How else could my neighborhood boy playmate and I get the material facts to compose our scientific research paper titled, "On the Sex-Linked Topological Passage of Urine through Urogenitalia of Homo sapiens sapiens Wearing Open-Crotch Pants Peeing on Pootinium-clad Chamber Pots"? The founding copulations of the Roman Empire started with "The Rape of the Sabine Women" so vaginas were holey passages to precious reproductive resources raised and grown in a patriarchy even millennia ago to make "the Glory of Rome" possible. Since ancient times, males had generally accreted excess-for-their-own-needs resources during their lifetimes and women had generally needed to suck in those resources to create posterity ( but this is somewhat untrue in societies with modern means of production for which male superiority such as physical strength { an electromagnet and helicopter were stronger than Hercules--I sensed that the slide rule 》Jawohl, Heil Drumpf ! Mein Führer, ich spielte nur Reichsschieber von Faber-Castell. < "Rocket man (and ex-Nazi) Wernher von Braun called for a new kind of warrior, one armed with a slide rule. Enter the 1958 National Defense Education Act (NDEA), whose goal was to bring "American education to levels consistent with the needs of our society." >《 could be mightier than my carbine assault rifle } has been lessened ).

Hence, the long-term sex/prostitution civil contracts of holey matri-money had been invented worldwide to be buttressed by societies' institutions and mores. I tamed Dad when Mom used me as a "cudgel" because he loved me !!! He was so strong back then--I couldn't pry open either one of his fists in which he held objects when I was sitting upon his lap playing with him in our front yard ( we had no backyard because our one-room residence was in a two-storey building with another family's room abutting our room's backside ) in the evening. Not only did Mom get the beautiful arctic-fox-pelt scarf with the beady eyeballs, she also got the densest ( ¿19.32 specific gravity? ) yellow-colored metallic chain with an engraved heart-shaped pendant ( a ¿pure-gold necklace? ) I've ever held in my hands. She looked gorgeous with Dad's adornments. She decorated me with a silver chain ( ¿involved in a ritual? of dripping water one drop at a time into a bowl partially filled with water under the full moon's light at midnight; I think that I drank the potion made from that water boiled with my Mom's chain and pendant, and other gold and silver coins such as a small King-George-V gold coin and an American Liberty-goddess silver Eagle coin in the next day's afternoon; I remember clearly the surface harmonics' refracted moonlight as if they were outlining the shapes of electrons' s-orbital spherical-harmonics quantum wavefunctions which I saw in a cafeteria while I was dripping milk one drop at a time into a cup of very hot tea--revealing the shape of the roiling face of God in the diffusion run-down-to-heat-death process ) and a stone coin ( previously sanctified by my selective spiritual godfather who rejected a neighbor's son to become his godson, maybe for his being ¿too naughty? Mom babysat him when his own mother had an urgent errand to run; he might have been "a three-hair-whorl monkey." ) around my neck.

The ACA fell short of expectations so we must do wave-2 reforms, crushing all billionaires of our glans-penile Retardica if need be. Socialism certainly works for northern Europeans ( the concern there is the long-term sustainability in view of the demographic changes ). Demographics is Destiny. Incidentally, it's the reason why I didn't really want to encourage young Hong Kongers to move overseas en masse although some relief via emigration for "the sunrise on a New World" is obviously and definitely desirable to defuse the pressure of living in an economically oppressive and growing ever more politically repressive regime. How do you answer the question, "Where did you come from?" It's not as simple to answer as some monolingual monocultural immobile non-cosmopolitan people may think. I came from the output end of a transglobal multicontinental multicultural causality funnel which reaches far back to ancient times at many geographically widespread places. I don't even know where to begin the narrative of my origin ( aside from the rather obvious and seemingly silly { due to its probability being near one yielding near-zero information which describes pre-testtube-baby people such as me } but likely factual answer of a mating, probably climaxing in an ejaculatory orgasm, from my father to my mother--so the correct answer to the question, "Where did you come from?" may very well be "glans penis" ).

Older and very young people tend to be engaged less in the workforce and the conveyor belt of aging transforms the cohorts inexorably. Young people will grow old and old people will die but the catch here is that nowadays old people just don't die as much as they used to. It can be a great blessing for retaining memories and experiences for our species but a bit of a burden to keep them engaged in society and in some comfort. An older society tends to be wiser ( the PRC is a lot dumber than Chinese Culture is: it's 70 years old at most { actually much less in real maturity terms due to Maoist "perpetual revolution" having destroyed much of Chinese Culture--it's why "Mainlander Chinese" seem much cruder than other Chinese in the diaspora } vs. thousands of years of distilled experience of turmoil, wars, peace, alliances, enlightenment, drama, forgiveness, reconciliation, etc.) I myself have experienced the fervent drive or foolhardiness of youth and I do feel that I'm wiser than my younger self. The PRC is fervent and foolhardy in youth, reactionary to Colonialism. If the PRC can claim "five thousand years" of history for being in China, the U.S.A. can certainly claim 16,000 years of history for being in America! The U.S. crop of corn/maize came from the Native Americans, so did the foundation of our "federal" form of government. We probably have the largest collection of chickens in the whole world because we do have the corn to feed them with. It was a source of enticement as well as irritation between me and my Dad. I did wish for "eating chicken at every meal" by concurring with immigrating to America but I didn't really wish for literally eating chicken at every meal ! I can see why my Dad was irritated for having fulfilled my wish and yet I still found that eating cold chicken for breakfast was just too much to handle for every morning.

An Epstein-Barr virus said, "I smelled plutonium and heard of "bitching your company" and how to make an ¿elevator bitch? but I didn't inhale. Although I know how to talk with prejudice, I must preserve my viability within the onslaught on our glans-penile Retardica." Every male in the World should learn how to love skiing in Sillicone Valley. Umm, quit smoking ! It is inhalation. Thanks, Marina, for the tip. Pitchblende from a silver mine started the plutonium craze.

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 1 year ago

Sinn Fein celebrates an historic win in Northern Ireland election.

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/07/1097417453/sinn-fein-wins-assembly-election-northern-ireland

Yes, the DUP will do all it can to block the vote for speaker as outlined below BUT the election was still a major victory for Sinn Fein and is the reason why the DUP is sh-t-ng itself.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/ni-assembly-unable-to-function-after-dup-blocks-vote-for-speaker-1.4877742

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinn_F%C3%A9in

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 1 year ago

"Baby Formula Shortage Reveals Corporate Monopolies’ Grip on Markets"! via: DemocracyNow!

This video link is really important viewing to any & all - who want to understand how "Monopoly" is the fundamental motivation & raison d'etre of US crapitalism and how US Capitalism is corrupt & twisted!!

Per your reply, "Sinn Fein" and its policies means the Irish 99% will finally get a look in Irish Politics & NOT just through a reactionary, sectarian prism either and I welcome their success, now and in future!

respice; adspice; prospice et per aspera ad astra ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 years ago

''Turns Out "Spooky 'Socialist' Proposals" Are Popular, Says AOC, As Poll Shows 70% of GOP Voters Back Plan to Cap Credit Card Rates'' by Jake Johnson:

''Progressive proposals are "winning over vast majorities of GOP voters because they are common-sense, humane policies," said the New York congresswoman''! See what happens when people are actually given real alternatives (as opposed to sanctioned by corporations!) choices?!

ad iudicium ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 years ago

So: WHY is Norway so great ... IF Democratic Socialism is supposed to be so bad?

ad iudicium ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 years ago

''The New Left Economics: How a Network of Thinkers is Transforming Capitalism.'' .. by Andy Beckett:

''After decades of rightwing dominance, a transatlantic movement of leftwing economists is building a practical alternative to neoliberalism.''

dum spiro, spero ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 3 years ago

''Antipathy Towards Socialism Has Roots in State & Corporate Cold War Propaganda.'' - by Dr. Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy:

e tenebris, lux?

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 7 years ago

Bernie LIVE in NYC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=796fW3X5gYM [4/9/16 7:30pm EST]

With - Nina Turner; Harry Belafonte, Eric [RIP] Garner's daughter, Erica, Spike Lee and others.

multum in parvo ...

[-] 1 points by turbocharger (1756) 7 years ago

Bernie just got a bomb dropped on him about Jewish control of things, this outta be an interesting answer.

"Im a strong defender of Israel, but I think we need to pay attention to the needs of the Palestinians."..

Interesting. And.... End of conference lol.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 7 years ago

Consider ... ''Neo-fascist responses to rampant insecurity and inequality are not going to go away. But what we know from the 1930s is that what it takes to do battle with fascism is a real left. A good chunk of Trump’s support could be peeled away if there were a genuine redistributive agenda on the table. An agenda to take on the billionaire class with more than rhetoric and use the money for a green new deal. Such a plan could create a tidal wave of well-paying unionised jobs, bring badly needed resources and opportunities to communities of colour, and insist that polluters should pay for workers to be retrained and fully included in this future.

''It could fashion policies that fight institutionalised racism, economic inequality and climate change at the same time. It could take on bad trade deals and police violence, and honour indigenous people as the original protectors of the land, water and air.'' - from ...

dum spiro, spero ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 7 years ago

Yep, that was a difficult question & Bernie did say that ... but also said a bit more than you suggest too. These are ''interesting'' times and this is THE most "interesting'' POTUS race that I can remember in my life. I've never been as involved with a candidate before, as I am with Bernie now & whatever happens, I'm NOT about to sit on my hands on the sidelines at this important juncture for The US 99%; certainly NOT with the advantages and possibilities of modern inter-web coms! Also fyi .. please consider the following:

per aspera ad astra ...

[-] 2 points by ImNotMe (1488) 8 years ago

"Is Bernie Sanders A Socialist?" by William Blum:

From which .. "Social democrats and democratic socialists have no desire to get rid of the profit motive. Last November, Sanders gave a speech at Georgetown University in Washington (see below) about his positive view of democratic socialism, including its place in the policies of presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson. In defining what Democratic Socialism means to him, Sanders said ... “I don’t believe government should take over the grocery store down the street or own the means of production.”

Further: ''Activists have to remind the American people of what they’ve already learned but seem to have forgotten: that they don’t want more government, or less government; they don’t want big government, or small government; they want government on their side. Period.'' Ditto! Thus for a tune to this effect, see:

fiat justitia ...

[-] 2 points by beautifulworld (23767) 8 years ago

Of course, Bernie Sanders is not a true die hard socialist. If he were he'd be calling to nationalize the banks and the utilities for goodness sake's.

There is nothing to fear here except possibly having things that most other developed nations have such as universal healthcare, mandatory time off, a living wage, affordable, if not free, education, etc., crazy things like that! Putting checks and balances on unfettered capitalism is really all Bernie Sanders is talking about. It's just that the U.S. has gone so far to the right that even a little leaning to the left appears radical.

Thanks for all the great links and for all that you do here and in the wider world of activism.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 8 years ago

That's really the whole irony right there!!! Bernie's positions are not really Revolutionary Socialist, by any historically and/or internationally understood objective terms!! However because the whole spectrum has been dragged so far to The Right by 5 or 6 decades of RWNJ/Corporate Propaganda - Americans regard demanding what others take for granted elsewhere ... as Radical, Revolutionary and Socialist - as terms such as''Social-Democrat'' & ''Democratic Socialist'' get equated to Stalinism, Moaism and even Nazism (I kid you not) by ill-informed, ill-educated RWNJ imbeciles! Thanx for your kind words & your succinct & necessary statement of the obvious, in compliment to which - please also consider these following links

et veritas vos liberabit ...

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 8 years ago

Yanis Varoufakis on paradox in the economy:

"Have you wondered why politicians aren't what they used to be, why governments seem unable to solve real problems? Economist Yanis Varoufakis, the former Minister of Finance for Greece, says that it's because you can be in politics today but not be in power — because real power now belongs to those who control the economy. He believes that the mega-rich and corporations are cannibalizing the political sphere, causing financial crisis. In this talk, hear his dream for a world in which capital and labor no longer struggle against each other, "one that is simultaneously libertarian, Marxist and Keynesian."

Varoufakis points out the "Twin Peaks Paradox": The Mountain of Debts & The Mountain of Idle Cash belonging to the wealthy and corporations, both of which would cancel each other out if put into play. But, the idle cash is just that, idle. The result of idle cash hoarded by the wealthy is stagnant wages, people out of work and low aggregate demand. Idle cash is gross wastefulness. It should be energized to improve lives, finance green technologies to save planet earth etc.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44093.htm

This is a must see video. Yanis Varoufakis is a warrior for the 99% and I think an important leader of the global movement to bring economic justice to people all over the globe. The global 1% are working together, therefore, the global 99% must do the same.

He describes a world that is simultaneously libertarian and Marxist and Keynesian. The guy is a visionary. Imagine an authentic democracy. Will such a world dawn? The answer lies in a political choice and we better make it democratically, he warns.

[-] 3 points by ImNotMe (1488) 8 years ago

Yes .. ''The guy is a visionary. Imagine an authentic democracy. Will such a world dawn? The answer lies in a political choice and we better make it democratically, he warns.'' &

''This is a must see video. Yanis Varoufakis is a warrior for The 99% and I think an important leader of the global movement to bring economic justice to people all over the globe. The global 1% are working together, therefore, the global 99% must do the same.'' Ditto. Big Twinkle & also fyi, I'll append these..

That great video will stay with me for a very long time to come. It's awesome, educative & inspirational.

fiat lux ...

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 8 years ago

I keep thinking of Varoufakis and what he said about Syriza. A lot of people claim Syriza was a failure but as Varoufakis points out, it was a tremendous success because it highlighted how corrupt the ECB and IMF are and now everyone knows it!

I take what he says there and apply it to the Bernie Sanders campaign for President. No matter, win or lose, it will be a victory for the message that it spreads.

[-] 2 points by ImNotMe (1488) 8 years ago

Yanis Varoufakis is indeed a visionary and .. just the kind of dot-joining; wide ranging; macro-economist ''High End Intellectual'' that The Global 99% need! Your point about the Syriza / Berner-Movement is hot or, is that too inflammatory a way to put it here?!! Your ''win or lose'' point is HUGE too, for those with a perspective of time and I STILL find it hard to believe how far The 99% / OWS message has come in <5 years and how ''quietly loud'' it has become, for those many millions with ears to hear and eyes to see!!!

solidaridad siempre y si se puede ...

[-] 2 points by beautifulworld (23767) 8 years ago

The crisis of democracy around the world and the rejection of the global establishment is summed up by Varoufakis in the video found in this article "Economist Yanis Varoufakis Supports Bernie Because Crises of Democracy":

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/2/14/1485000/-Economist-Yanis-Varoufakis-Supports-Bernie-Because-Crises-of-Democracy

He thinks Bernie Sanders will tilt America toward humanism again. Sounds like a plan.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 7 years ago

''Though he died 133 years ago, the analysis put forward by one of the world’s most influential thinkers, Karl Marx, remains extremely relevant today. The Empire’s recent rigged presidential election has been disrupted by the support of an avowed socialist, Bernie Sanders, by millions of voters.

''To find out why Marx’s popularity has stood the test of time, Abby Martin interviews renowned Marxist economist Richard Wolff, Professor Emeritus of Economics at UMass - Amherst, and visiting professor at the New School in New York.

''Prof. Wolff gives an introduction suited for both beginners and seasoned Marxists, with comprehensive explanations of key tenets of Marxism ... including dialectical and historical materialism, surplus value, crises of overproduction, capitalism's internal contradictions, and more.''

So Varoufakis thinks - ''Bernie Sanders will tilt America toward humanism again''?! You bet that it does ''Sound like a plan''?!! WTF is the option?!!! Thanx for a great link. YV isn't just anyone & neither is BS!

ad iudicium ...

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 7 years ago

Professor Wolff: "Karl Marx believed ideas were the supreme achievement of human beings.....The notion is idealism." From the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yEiv1fIhyE

He goes through a brief overview of history and how different periods changed as ideas changed. He says today capitalism is failing and so we see a capitalism that is in "fundamental shaking difficulty."

This has resulted in what Bernie Sanders is proving, that there is a growing interest in socialism that has captured millions of people. We are, as a society, looking for ways to fix the problems of capitalism.

In essence, "Democratize the Enterprise" is the slogan of modern day socialism according to Wolff. End the business where a tiny group of major shareholders make all the decisions.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 7 years ago

David Graeber - who has moved to the UK, would very much concur with .. ''In essence, "Democratize the Enterprise" is the slogan of modern day socialism according to Wolff.'' ... and as important as the video of Prof. Wolff and Abby Martin is & tho' it's from a more UK perspective - I append this scholarly and highly relevant article (w/my ''Twinkle'' for your reply both implied & explicit) for your later perusal:

It is a long, well argued and very thought provoking piece from which I very briefly excerpt the following:


''Political debate in the United States, Japan, or Germany works much the same way. But in Britain, things have gone so far that we are beginning to see a classic Big Lie reinforcer effect. When the consensus reality gets this completely divorced from actually existing reality, when so many innocent people have suffered as a result, and when anyone pointing this out has been so consistently and aggressively denounced as a tinfoil-hat-wearing flat-earther or Trotskyite, to break ranks would mean admitting that the lunatics were right. There is nothing the established media is more loath to do.''

''The U.S.-sponsored “financial system” is, as economists like Michael Hudson have argued, largely a shakedown system, a means of extracting something if not identical to, then very like imperial tribute from the rest of the world.''

Thus re. ''The Return of the Future'' ... ''All this might seem irredeemably bleak. All the more surprising, then, that the main reaction on the left, beginning tentatively with the 2010 student movement and now exploding everywhere, has been a wave of almost insolent optimism & a (admittedly hesitant) return to utopian visions. This is why I started by speaking of “despair fatigue.” There is a still small but growing realization that if Great Britain is going to enter history again—if there is going to be any sort of grand, positive vision for its future—that vision can come only from the left.''


I could quote so much of this article - but the above will suffice for now for flavor. Solidarity to you and yours. A different world is possible - IF US/UK 99% et al, can start to formulate a vision and coalesce around the likes of Sanders and Corbyn. The reactionary forces of The 0.01% Oligarchy and their 1% lackeys & hired help will fight this tooth and nail though but from our 99% p-o-v, Resistance Is Fertile!

dum spiro, spero ...

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 7 years ago

Despair fatigue. Brilliant. I think Graeber is onto something.

You can see this happening in the States too, that's why there are protests at Trump events and huge crowds at Sanders events. #FightFor15 #BlackLivesMatter etc. Despair is no longer an option. Taking action is.

Must watch episode of The Keiser Report featuring David Graeber:

https://www.rt.com/shows/keiser-report/337289-episode-max-keiser-893/

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 years ago

''America’s Original Socialist'', by Prof. Maurice Isserman:

''A century ago, Eugene V. Debs went to prison for his beliefs.'' - Finally, also try to consider...

vox populi, vox dei ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 6 years ago

''The S-word': how young Americans fell in love with Socialism!'', by Chris McGreal:

multum in parvo ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 7 years ago

''Sadistic Capitalism: Six Urgent Matters for Humanity in Global Crisis'', by William I. Robinson:

1) The level of global social polarization and inequality is unprecedented in the face of out-of-control, over-accumulated capital.

2) The system is fast reaching the ecological limits to its reproduction.

3) The sheer magnitude of the means of violence is unprecedented, as is the concentrated control over the means of global communications and the production and circulation of knowledge, symbols and images.

4) We are reaching limits to the extensive expansion of capitalism.

5) There is the rise of a vast surplus population inhabiting a "planet of slums," alienated from the productive economy, thrown into the margins and subject to these sophisticated systems of social control and destruction.

6) There is a disjuncture between a globalizing economy and a nation-state-based system of political authority.

William I. Robinson is professor of sociology, global studies and Latin American studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara. His most recent book is ''Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Humanity.''

ad iudicium ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 7 years ago

Bernie Sanders and Cenk Uygur, talking on 26th, March '16:

That's a good call! I watched that KR Episode!! It is - great!!!

Please excuse the empty headed, brainfarter below, btw bw.

Wish him well as he's got various personality disorders - but

sadly, he is unable to see OWS or Bernie in any continuum!

ad iudicium ...

[-] -1 points by fionachuckles (-375) from Fairview, NJ 7 years ago

It's not that Graeber got my attention particularly, just need to see you are starting to read scholars, instead of bad writing like you used to. hopefully, it will help you become shaper intellectually. perhaps even drop conspiracies altogether and move onto scholarly thought.

From Teenage conspiracy theorist, to adult intellectual, it has been done before. An uncommon metamorphosis, but possible.

[-] -1 points by fionachuckles (-375) from Fairview, NJ 7 years ago

Finally, you seem to be understanding something.

My idea of the Bridge to the Ground, to enable discussions on this very website to become actions on the ground by virtue of a fluid connection between ideas to action. This is so important, and something the users of this forum have neglected for such a long time. How many here have actually done actions, have actually transformed their ideas into concrete actions to make a better world? None most likely. The create a Bridge to the Ground would make this so much more easy. So much more possible.

I'm happy you started read Grabber. It's a good first step.

[-] 0 points by fionachuckles (-375) from Fairview, NJ 7 years ago

It's rare that you change you news source, but I commend you. It's good to not always read from the same journal or website. Good job. If you can read more scholars like Grabber, and less conspiracy garbage, we will all benefit I believe.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 7 years ago

David Graeber got your attention - huh?! However, as ever ... you have NOTHING substantive to add!! Bar of course your usual malodorous brainfarts!!! Watch this TrashyManque' & see what you can make of it:

multum in parvo ...

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 7 years ago

It's good to read. Are you ever going to?

If you could read, you'd see he was replying to me, not you.

[-] 2 points by ImNotMe (1488) 8 years ago

''Why Americans Like Socialism'' by Thom Hartmann's ''The Daily Take Team'':

multum in parvo ....

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 8 years ago

"Say what you want about the feasibility of "democratic socialism," but the argument that it's somehow out of step with what the American people want is just flat-out wrong. Americans do want socialism, even if they've been bludgeoned by decades of Cold War era propaganda into believing that it's an affront to our democracy."

LOL. Great article. Thanks.

[-] 2 points by ImNotMe (1488) 7 years ago

Re. Bernie & DNC, please consider this - '' .... we cannot have a Democratic National Convention in which the views of millions of people who participated in the Democratic nominating process are unrepresented in the committee membership appointed by you [DWS] - the Chair. That sends the very real message that the Democratic Party ... is not open to the millions of new people that our campaign has brought into the political process [& that it] does not want to hear new voices,and is unwilling to respect the broader base of people that this party needs to win over in November and beyond.'' from ...

multum in parvo et hmmmmmm ....

[-] 2 points by beautifulworld (23767) 7 years ago

In the end, we certainly can have a DNC that is undemocratic and we can go and create our own, more fair party. It was a great letter Bernie wrote and in the end DWS gave him 5 people who will make the rules at the convention. Clinton has 6 and DWS has 4. So, great, but the cards are still stacked against him.

A. If you consider that had all the primaries been open and fair and had Hillary Clinton not been spewing superdelegates from the get go to convince everyone she was to be ordained, god only knows how well he'd have done. He'd likely be winning.

B. If you consider that Clinton has 6 and her sidekick, DWS has 4, that's 10! So, he is outnumbered 2 to 1.

Then, you will likely realize the fact that the convention ain't gonna be too pretty for Bernie and you will wonder as I do why he is sticking with the Democratic Party at all!

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 7 years ago

Consider that ''The Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, contrary to all expectation, has become the most important left insurgency in the United States in nearly half a century. A year ago, even his most optimistic supporters might have hoped that Bernie Sanders would enliven the presidential debates - by challenging Hillary Clinton on issues of Wall Street power and big money corruption and perhaps garner a quarter to a third of the primary vote. Instead, Sanders won primaries and caucuses in 23 states, and has amassed over 12 million votes and nearly 43% of all the pledged delegates. And now all this, while unapologetically and unabashedly proclaiming himself a "democratic socialist," (thus) re-legitimizing a systemic critique of US capitalism for the first time since the one-two punch of Cold War reaction and neoliberal triumphalism froze the left out of mainstream American discourse two generations ago.'' from:

I do get what you say and there are layers of ''winning'' ... that I can relate to. The Utter Exposure of The Shamocracy of Electronic Voting in U$A is an added bonus. Raising https://berniesanders.com/issues/ is another substantive win. The real acceleration of the raising of American Political Consciousness .. is priceless and I could list more but obviously - we want Bernie to be PotUS in November 06. Let us keep our shoulders to the wheel and see what happens and what he decides to do .. but exhorting him to join Dr.Jill stein is right up there on the list of things to do now, imo.

audaces fortuna juvat ...

[-] 2 points by ImNotMe (1488) 8 years ago

Thom Hartmann's great little punchy piece is a tonic & here's another perspective:

Democracy tends towards Socialism, as Turkeys STOP Voting For Thanksgiving!

Now consider, that that's EXACTLY why an Oligarchy fears Democracy so much!!

multum in parvo ...

[-] 2 points by beautifulworld (23767) 7 years ago

Phone banking in Zuccotti Park for Bernie Sanders:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eak4aVule3Y

Yep, Americans like socialism especially democratic socialism and they want to stop the unbridled greed and warmongering of the 1% that is preventing the 99% from having things like healthcare, education, affordable housing etc.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 7 years ago

''Obama Campaigning for Bernie Sanders'':

multum in parvo ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 7 years ago

An excellent and symbolic action. Thanx for the link bw and in compliment - tho' perhaps at a tangent, I a) Declare My Twinkle * for your comment and link and b) Append the below for your later consideration:

The Next Stage - of The Great American Awakening .. is under way!!! I was amazed in September 2011 when OWS manifested and Americans hit the streets in their hundreds & thousands .. right across the country!! Now I'm amazed at the coalescing of the pent up and previously voiceless pro-99%ers getting together once again, in order to try to affect Real Change for Economic Fairness; Justice and .. Peace!

per ardua ad astra ...

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 7 years ago

"How Sanders Could Lay the Foundation for a Third US Political Party"

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35644-how-sanders-could-lay-the-foundation-for-a-third-us-political-party

The time is now! Bernie should tell the DNC, "You didn't give me a fair chance, you didn't take me or my constituents seriously, you simply tried to use us. I/we owe you nothing."

He can either align with Greens or create a new party. I believe he could beat Trump and Clinton in November. If he doesn't do it then the movement should continue on and others should do it. Never has the American Left been more together than Bernie has gotten it to be right now.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 7 years ago

Reflect & ''Read Between the Lines: The Case for Bernie Sanders Running as an Independent'':

fiat lux ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 5 years ago

''Socialism Is More Popular Than You Think, Mr. President'' by John Nichols:

''Most surveys show Trump would lose in a matchup against a democratic socialist named Bernie Sanders.''

dum spiro, spero ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 7 years ago

"Bernie Sanders: The Warning Shot Of The Impending Revolution'':

''Feel The Bern .... There's An Inferno On The Way''! Yes, from Sanders to DNC - "You didn't give me a fair chance, you didn't take me or my constituents seriously, you simply tried to use us. I/we - owe you nothing"!! There are a lot of early OWS people with & around Bernie & the ''Progressive Peoples' Party'' (or whatever they choose to call it) idea is NOT lost on anyone - as Democraps have probably been co-opted by Oligarchy & Corporations - beyond redemption & Duopoly Has Got To Go!!! + From your link:


''A new, independently financed political party could make Sanders' call for "political revolution" and his claim that he is trying to build a movement more than a dream boldly proclaimed by an inspiring, if not quixotic, leader. It could deliberately seek to unify our currently fragmented movement cultures and operate as a vehicle for the substantive promise of Sanders' "political revolution": deep institutional and cultural reform. Doing so, it could begin to fulfill our country's lofty aspirations: a society truly ruled by the people with meaningful input available to everyone, absent discrimination on any basis -- race, gender, sexuality, nationality or religion.

''Most importantly, perhaps, an independently financed party could seek to define this broad policy platform, not primarily through the input of elite power brokers funneled through the corporate-financed media and think tank complex, but with the input of grassroots leaders already engaged in building such a society.

''Sanders has already repeatedly vowed to remain in the Democratic primary until the convention in July, a scenario that basically every electoral pundit determines is far more likely than not. This buys the Sanders campaign at least another three months to build name recognition and fundraising as it continues to advertise on TV, to receive news coverage, even if it is disproportionately minimal, and to travel across the country to physically deliver its message to American voters.

The ''Sanders campaign could create its own media and information mechanism. It could set up something like a 24-hour YouTube channel -- the platform does not matter -- and invest significant resources (tens of millions of dollars) for professionally produced coverage of Sanders' campaigning. This could include extensive interviews with the actual people turning out to support Sanders on the campaign trail, creating self-producing, crowdsourced political education materials produced by and for the people who support Sanders' candidacy.

''The Sanders campaign could also use this independent media platform for political education and awareness, and to amplify movement-building already underway.

''All kinds of experts and practitioners could appear on the channel to explain the problems we face -- campaign finance, income inequality, institutional racism, environmental degradation, permanent US war -- along with the potential institutional solutions to them that basically don't get any air time on the corporate mass media.

Eg: ''Practitioners and policy experts from the New Economy Coalition, [ http://neweconomy.net/ ] like Gar Alperovitz, who is also a cofounder of the Next System Project, [ http://thenextsystem.org/ ] could discuss economic democracy and institutional strategies to create widely shared wealth. Alperovitz helped to create the Evergreen Cooperatives, a network of cooperatives in Cleveland, Ohio, that has used the purchasing power of quasi-public hospitals and universities to create community and worker-owned cooperatives, employing people in Cleveland's impoverished inner city and financed by a cooperatively controlled investment fund.

''Simply by naming our corrupt campaign finance system and our historic income and wealth inequality, the Sanders campaign has generated more electoral support than anyone ever imagined was possible.''


On this May Day 2016 .. I encourage all who read here to read that Truth-Out Link [ http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35644-how-sanders-could-lay-the-foundation-for-a-third-us-political-party ] & look forward to a time when The 99% Educate; Agitate & Organize to ''Lose Our Chains'' ;-) SOLIDARITY!

dum spiro, spero ...

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 7 years ago

We're ready for some CH-CH-CH-CHANGES!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl3vxEudif8

Come on, Bernie. The time is now! Third Party!

WOW at all that Cenk Uyghur says above. It is happening. This scenario can play out quite easily as all of the groundwork has been laid and support for Bernie is more and more entrenched in the minds of so many people. Fingers crossed and little P-U-S-H to Bernie.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 5 years ago

"A new movement for a real people’s party is forming in the U.S... grassroots organizing that connects the labor movement to local communities around issues that matter to everyday working people." from:

per aspera ad astra ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 7 years ago

''Let's Get Serious About Inequality and Socialism'', by Michael D. Yates:

Which ends :''Hold fast to ... vision and principles -- the grand narrative that best explains the reality in which we find ourselves. Put our shoulders to the wheel - no matter the opposition ... and struggle on.''

per aspera ad astra ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 5 years ago

The Democratic Socialists of America have leapt from a 6,000 to a 47,000 membership – and even conservatives are struggling to articulate what is so bad about free education and healthcare, since tRUMP took power ...

multum in parvo ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 5 years ago

''Ocasio-Cortez: Attack on Socialism Shows Trump Is Scared of Progressives'' - Jake Johnson:

quad erat demonstrandum ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 4 years ago

''23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism''' ... by Dr. Ha-Joon Chang:

Ha-Joon Chang offers a masterful debunking of some of the myths of capitalism.

e tenebris, lux ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 6 years ago

Kshama Sawant's ''Socialist Response to Trump's State of the Union'':

per ardua ad astra et dum spiro, spero ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 7 years ago

''Is the US Ready for Socialism? An Interview With Noam Chomsky'':

fiat lux ...

[-] 2 points by beautifulworld (23767) 7 years ago

"If we are serious about inequality, we have to address the supremacy of capital, directly and forcefully. In terms of politics, the state would have to levy extremely progressive taxes, similar to the 90 percent applied to the top income bracket during World War II and early 1950s. Wealth taxation of the greatest accumulation of assets would have to be confiscatory, which it should be in any event. What harm would come to society if Bill Gates' wealth was taxed away? Or that of any hedge fund operator? A meaningful guaranteed annual income would have to be implemented, high enough to ensure that everyone could live decently without working for wages. A basket of goods and services would have to be each person's right. The prison system as currently structured would have to be abolished. Housing policy would have to be revolutionized, with quality housing built by the government and provided as cheaply as possible and free to those who are poorest. The nature of work would have to be completely revamped so that jobs were meaningful and worth doing from society's point of view."

The above is an important quote from the Michael Yates article:

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35841-let-s-get-serious-about-inequality-and-socialism

The reason it is important is because it shows how NOT radical Bernie Sanders is. They want to paint him as radical but in reality the things he asks for are just a start. As Yates points out they will do little to break the grip that capital has on the rest of us though they may band-aid over some aches and pains.

[-] 2 points by ImNotMe (1488) 7 years ago

"Prior to Bernie Sanders, nobody ever dared utter the word .. socialism," she said. "Forget about the 10 million who cast their vote for a Democratic Socialist ... think about the many more millions, across this country, who are talking about it, probably right now. That's even more important." - from this interesting article by Oligarchy Gate Keepers - NPR:

Thanx for an excellent excerpt from that important article - that I will have to re-read! You are right bw - Bernie is nothing like as radical in Western European and Global terms as USA's MSM wants to paint him as being BUT as all things are relative .. he may as well be Karl Marx' clone as far as Oligarchy is concerned - lol, hmmmm & hrumph! That Bernie has run a OWS 2.0 platform is GR8 & it ain't over yet!

verum ex absurdo ...

[-] 2 points by beautifulworld (23767) 7 years ago

We certainly owe a lot to Bernie Sanders but let me say here on the Occupy Wall Street forum that the meme of the 99% vs. the 1% started with Occupy. Long live Occupy! which always had it right that we need to work outside the system, outside the establishment status quo that always controls and co-opts anyone who tries to reform them.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 7 years ago

''Bernie Sanders: my political revolution is just getting started"! by Lauren Gambino:

I totally agree with what you say and it is precisely that "independence" that's OWS' strength. You, I and We Here ... clearly ain't done yet! And neither has Bernie, it appears! "The Struggle Continues"!!!

per ardua ad astra ...

[-] 2 points by MattHolck0 (3867) 8 years ago

the profit motive would better serve the people if they had their own money

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 8 years ago

He may not say it right now - but if & when he gets in, Bernie will have to get to the core issues of Fiat Money Creation by Private Banks & the necessity of - a Publicly Owned Central (& other) Banks. Then he'll also start to deal with the hows and whys behind the reasons why The U$A keeps ...

fiat lux; fiat justitia; fiat pax ...

[-] 1 points by MattHolck0 (3867) 8 years ago

who are you trying to convince ?

[-] 2 points by ImNotMe (1488) 8 years ago

Anyone?! Everyone?!! But I guess Only U here!!! As ever you choose to make glib(ish) replies but don't want to trouble yourself with actually reading links or viewing anything that may question your opinions and views - even if and when, said links are directly relevant to you.Ho-hummm, I'll just keep ploughing my usual furrow & plod on, a step at a time - with consonants and vowels!

ad iudicium ...

[-] 1 points by MattHolck0 (3867) 8 years ago

the parties do gave a rhythm

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 8 years ago

Rhythm?! If so - it is surely called ''The Downlow, Dirty, Deadbeat Duopoly Two-Step'' & it's been leading absolutely nowhere but further towards Bat Shit Fkn Crazy, for 45+ years!! Time For A Change In Tune!!!

Go on & never mind glib replies! Change the habits of a lifetime (on The Forum)!! And read something!!!

audaces fortuna juvat ...

[-] 1 points by MattHolck0 (3867) 8 years ago

War Should Be the Last Option: Why I Support the Iran Deal

WE gave lots more weapons to Saudi Arabia in the "Iran Deal"

now the US can keep playing war

[-] 2 points by ImNotMe (1488) 8 years ago

''The US Military Suffers From Affluenza: Showering the Pentagon With Money and Praise'' :

The above is in compliment of your comment, which was a good point, well made. Also fyi, consider:

pax nunc ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 6 years ago

''Inspiring a Socialist Alternative: An Interview With Eljeer Hawkins'', by Bryant William Sculos:

dum spiro, spero ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 6 years ago

Why are Americans living in cars?!!!

Especially after they're working 2 jobs?!!

That's now THE fkn PRIMARY point below ...

NOT the kind hearted cop! Now WTFU U$A!!!!

fiat justitia ruat caelum ...

[-] 2 points by grapes (5232) 5 years ago

Re: Coming to the Land of the Sun, Apollo rekindled supernovae's dying ember to nucleofry Hiroshima and Nagasaki to drive off the hungry bear.

Our Orangutan seems intent on luring the hungry bear to raid its own house in hope of someday building a tree house in the bear cave.

Is it epilepsy?! Can any doctor help diagnose?

Russia's annexation of Crimea and the shooting down of flight MH17 ( which Pootin the Great lied and still lies about ) amounted to destroying the post-World-War-II world order that the U.S. had sought to build up with much blood and treasure to ensure peace and prosperity for all. Ukraine's sovereignty under the U.N. Charter was torn asunder. Our Orangutan might have no memory of so many Americans fighting and dying to correct for our mistaken Isolationism even after the U.S. had emerged victoriously from World War I. I don't believe in Rudyard Kipling's stupid "The White Man's Burden" but I do believe in "All Peoples' Burden."

 Geh mir nicht voran, 
 Ich könnte dir nicht folgen.
 Geh mir nicht hinter, 
 Ich könnte dir nicht leiten.
 Geh nur an meiner Seite, 
 Und sei mein Freund.

Did it make any sense for the Mongols ( or perhaps Rus Chinese with their One-Belt One-Whip Initiative? U.S.-donated charity clothings decimated local African clothing makers' livelihoods -- even giving away freebies in goodwill can create undesirable dependencies robbing the recipients' futures so it's often better to suggest and respond to specific community requests; elephants must learn how to dance ballet amongst the tulips without harming them ) proclaiming "the Yellow Man's Burden" while pillaging, slaughtering, and raping across the Eurasian steppe? Or the Oklahoman or Russian unloading "the Red Man's Burden?"

The Mongol Conquests had certainly contributed greatly to the future colonial dominance of the Europeans by stimulating Marco Polo's epic voyage of discovery, visiting Cathay. However, the Europeans and Asians at the time had to have hated with a vengeance the mountains of human bones set outside of their city gates, their women shrieking and screaming while being raped, their dwellings set to the torch, and bloody rotting buzzing-with-flies cadavers and tossed-in disease-infested carcasses strewn across their streets after the mayhem.

The U.S. participation in the Global Order is MANDATORY, far too many chickens having already been brooded by U.S. Isolationism.

The U.S. didn't assume leadership after World War I ( it conceived the League of Nations and yet chickened out ) allowing World War II's savageries to occur. When Destiny beckons, answer with Certainty and Bravery. World-War-I-era chemical warfare savageries MUST be fought back ( did Hitler experience any gas attack in WWI causing him to refrain from using poisonous gases on the European battlefield in WWII? yes, on October 13-14 of 1918, so that event might be a reason why -- those furors who crave for nucular boobs should be suckled first.) The U.S. must stop humanity's moral backsliding, incidentally enforcing the existing international agreements. Boob away for moral cleansing!

Which country sounded the alarms on global warming? Which country organized the developed world to achieve the Kyoto Protocol and yet chickened out? Which country helped organize the World Community to put sanctions on Iran and DPRK to slow WMD proliferation? Which country started China on the path to develop renewable resources and technologies? U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A.

India leading the charge against anthropogenic climate change is unnerving although our toilet tissue paper man is also leading us straight into Orangutan's baptismal bowl. We have a chance to flush later on this year. "I'm from Queens." What type, Caesarean or just picked-up? "I've got your back," so eRex received the shaft. He got into the flight path of the Wormwood asspile of Palm Beach Airport. Bathroom tissue paper is inadequate for the task at hand.

"The fix for a gun in a bad hand is two guns in good hands shooting away." Near University Place, boobs didn't kill people -- peeple killed people.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 5 years ago

So WTF does "The U.S. participation in the Global Order is MANDATORY, far too many chickens having

already been brooded by U.S. Isolationism" mean?!!! U can't seem to help parroting 0.01% conceits can

U?!! Empire is what it's ALWAYS been about but alas, I'm not expecting U to get that! Consider, if U can:

fiat justitia et fiat pax ...

[-] 2 points by elf3 (4203) 6 years ago

Congress and politicians sold us to the multinational conglomerate. Perfect example...public airways (RF Spectrum). The peoples spectrum as i like to call it. They gave the MNC permission to own those and sell this back to us actually rent it to us ( internet cable phone) for as much as they like ( obama ...did that one) and it is pretty much that way with everything now...food, housing, and all our resources. The best part is we have to work for them too. Pretty much all jobs are invested in partnering hedgefunds. Everything is one giant hedge fund. Only the top five percent own almost all the stocks and companies. So we are being farmed for labor as indentured servants...yay count me in I just love the shitty end of the stick. This is is treason. To sell your own citizens under a bus...treason.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 5 years ago

Indeed "Everything is one giant hedge fund. Only the top five percent own almost all the stocks and companies" and tho' these 5% have a stake, it's the 0.01% or who really run things! Meanwhile...

fiat lux ...

[-] 1 points by grapes (5232) 5 years ago

I loved riding on my elder brother's "pocket rocket," watching James Bond flipping gorgeous nearly nude women onto himself while evading assassinations, and chewing the gum that might glue my intestines shut and torture me in a slow and agonizing death through constipation. Can you picture me wrapping my arms around my brother's waist, resting my head upon and smelling the black leather jacket on his back, with the headwind whooshing by my ears, and shooting ahead like a bat escaping from hell to blur the lane markings into an indiscernible uniform color? It was dangerous but we were foolhardy alright! Oh, I was just an incidental payload. The intended payload when he's pulling g's was not an android. However, in his deal with our Mom, I was his license to roam so although everything was recorded, not everything would be reported. I think that even as a young child, I could qualify as a good and experienced cop because I practiced "discretion"--of course, I enjoyed ice-cream cones and chewing gum. It's grace.

I think Germany, Japan, and ROK probably feel a bit as I did about having Big Brother SAM take care of the security business. I admit that it got very scary at times climbing a precipice while I was perching on his back. He didn't help matters much when he pointed out the "skeleton pit" that we had just traversed. I didn't like hearing his "fake news" - the grim statistics ( I found it rather disturbing to picture what he'd called "the crushed skulls" under the spaghetti cover of the unfurled roll of kitty-pawed toilet paper.) I did learn to be patient and take a long long "scenic" route at other times but for that one time, I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut when our Mom asked us as usual how our day went. "Great! We had a truly Great view!" Truthy indeed - I could even see Kissimmee in broad daylight! And the Milky Way.

Oily trinitroglycerin pacified Alfred Nobel's cardiac problem.

I couldn't watch the video you referenced because it was blocked in my country due to copyright violation.

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 5 years ago

The video is of ''Jeffrey Sachs To President Trump .. Please Get U.S. Out Of Syria - "We've Done Enough Damage!" ...

See if U can make more sense of it than I can of your replies to me. Nevertheless, thanx for the effort!

ad iudicium ...

[-] 1 points by grapes (5232) 5 years ago

These are the countries that had and still have significant U.S. military personnel: Japan, Germany, and South Korea. I consider them as global economic powerhouses.

These are the countries that had significant U.S. military personnel but have had them mostly withdrawn: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam. I consider them as global economic weaklings.

The pattern suggests to me that the presence of significant number of U.S. military personnel positively correlates with good economic performance. Peace is often the handmaiden of prosperity so I hypothesize that having a significant U.S. military footprint can bring a small piece of Pax Americana which often helps with the delivery of good economic performance. My Dad's comment seemed to corroborate my hypothesis. He said that these countries ( West Germany and Japan ) lost World War II so by the ancient warrior customs their inhabitants could have become slaves but they were living rather comfortably and well relative to some of the so-called victorious countries. I see his point to a certain extent. Decades ago while the U.S. populace was fretting that the Germans and the Japanese had the newer and more modern factories, tools, buildings, and means of production, someone suggested that the U.S. should just demolish them, throw them away, and reduce them to rubble, to simulate the utter destruction of a total war so as to "catch up with the war losers."

I don't believe that the U.S. did demolitions so many things have just aged in place. However, old infrastructure that still worked saved resources for other worthwhile projects such as many overseas wars and the subsequent rebuildings that renew and revitalize many countries. The U.S. is truly a global remodeler. It gave Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam the same opportunity to rebuild from scratch as it has given post-WWII West Germany and Japan. However, I think that the rather poor results in these countries came about because the Soviet Union, the bogeyman head of worldwide Communism, had collapsed ( in the case of Vietnam, there was the Détente rather than the collapse ) so the U.S. had the luxury of withdrawing its troops. With the rise of China next door, I expect Vietnam to fare better going forward in a similar way as South Korea, West Germany, and Japan prospered due to U.S. efforts to bolster them in the Cold War which has returned.

Vietnam may eventually thank China's new Emperor Xi ( Emperor can arise from the People's Democracy with Chinese characteristics ) for bullying it as my Dad's having praised Kim Il-sung for invading South Korea to revive post-WWII Japan's economy. He was stranded in Japan during the Korean Conflict which created great demands by the U.S. in Japan that he lived off of in his hours of need. Kim Il-sung was the inadvertent and most likely unintentional seminal father of modern Japan. It sounds bizarre why Kim Il-sung would help Japan which had acted so brutally in its occupation of Korea and Manchuria but my Dad's logic was impeccable.

Wars are destructive ( but constructive in the war production areas--World War II was the greatest economic stimulus program ever in the U.S. that built up Detroit, Baltimore, Newport-News, and New Orleans, rescuing the U.S. from the Great Depression ) and Peace is constructive (but slow, accretive, and net-positive). The U.S. homeland was tough to get to during the last century so it was mostly spared by the devastating world wars which ravaged almost all other major economies. Switzerland was also spared. Swiss guards were traditionally fierce and strong so Vatican uses them. Switzerland is protected by the Peace of Westphalia and it's also difficult for would-be invaders to assault up the Alps in a similar way that it's difficult to assault the U.S. homeland by having to cross a great ocean first. The U.S. mostly have friends, not enemies in the Western Hemisphere, enunciated as being protected by the U.S. under the auspice of the Monroe Doctrine which was the doctrinal basis for the U.S. response to the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. ( It was very scary--I didn't understand it but I could feel the tension so I propped myself upside down on the bed against the wall after doing a half-somersault towards it.) Both countries of Switzerland and the U.S. have very strong gun cultures that instill fear in many would-be invaders except that the U.S. includes other denizens of the U.S. as invaders.

Yep, in the U.S., children invade schools so according to the NRA's proposal seconded by our bullshit ( Bush-it the II [ the Second ] ), we must arm our teachers with guns! Unlike the timid and tardy Switzerland which locked up the guns, the U.S. is exceptionally thorough and high-minded--"no child left behind." Not quite there yet but...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 5 years ago

Germany and Japan's ZERO ability to rebuild their Military Machines - meant that expense, effort and

energy was not wasted and could go into their domestic economies, as they rebuilt. South Korea was

similar re. the rebuild ... tho' they maintained their military, under a US aegis. U are clearly a nostalgic

apologist for US Empire & so, rather than waste my time deconstructing your quasi-RW, conservative

screed, my only question is did U watch this very short video

multum in parvo ...

[-] 1 points by grapes (5232) 6 years ago

I believe that this family has insuffucient wages paid by her job(s) and living in car arose from the terrible healthcare covfefe of our arrogant nation ruled by the God-damned Retards and the self-serving Demonkrapts.

However, the major reason is really the vastness of this country combined with the mobility and scatter of its affinity groups. I have experienced these people:

Living in cars ( and also dying in cars ) is often just due to the choices that people have made to live their lives to the max in metal boxes. One can say that it's Freedom. I surmise that there will be people commuting across the Pacific Ocean when the Tokyo Express opens for business.

Pond-skaters don't seem to experience much water drag. If Jesus could walk on water, maybe we can skate on air ( why use heavy xenon at first if lightest exhaust maximizes thrust? ionization energy of most energetic electron ) and scoop up ions of the ionosphere to supplement fuel ( we have vastly more powerful electromagnets than decades before so they may excel as ion scoopers ). It takes Zero fuel ( the reason why DPRK missiles could and did become a huge story so fast recently ) to travel vast distances in space so travelling very high up in near space should require minimal fuel.

Over the long run, Humanism, with hands down, beats Militarism. The human family unit has been the launch pad for the rise of human beings to global dominance through cooperation. We still have our cudgels, of course, just like our close relatives, the chimpanzees do, so did or will we see the rise of the chimpanzees to global dominance, too, hmmm?

My father who was with the U.S. Occupation Force in Greater Yokohama/Kamakura during the Korean Conflict expressed to our family several times that he was shocked by President Truman's firing of "the American Caesar" the five-star General Douglas MacArthur occupying postwar Japan and who led and fought the Korean Conflict. MacArthur was fired because he was alleged to be advocating crossing the Yalu River into China to clean out the Chinese Communists' bases, using nuclear bombs if necessary! Truman reined in MacArthur's alleged militaristic tendency by recalling him.

I thought that the Korean Conflict had been settled for a lasting peace by the many-decades-ago-already armistice. It had started near the 38th parallel, and after so many deaths, injuries, and atrocities, it was suspended near the 38th parallel. What progress?! Surely, children like myself would have probably enjoyed a Korean Iliad or Odyssey but ruining the Korean Peloponnesus for just that is rather silly and stupid as we have imagination. My Dad didn't tell me Korean stories despite his having been in the U.S.-occupied Japan ( the conquest had originated from the attack on Pearl Harbor ) and fairly close to the actual conflict as measured on a degree-of-separation basis at that time. Mom learnt of some spotty stories, though, such as a soldier crawling into and plugging up a cannon with his body and a charge toward a machine-gun nest till it ran out of bullets ( or the trigger finger cramped up in tiredness, or the machine-gunner simply fell asleep! ). Yeah, Mom knew better stories than Dad. Remember the Valkyries? She lived through those terrible times so she had gained an on-the-ground ant's perspective and "Culture." Ja, Kinder lieben Geschichten.

War is much worse than a zero-sum "game" -- it's a negative-sum "game" as we should have learnt by now, as the Germanic/Teutonic tribes did, several millennia and many devastating wars later after the "heroic" Homeric Bronze Age.

[-] 0 points by ImNotMe (1488) 5 years ago

Re. living in cars - I don't believe that a mother with dependent kids, does that out of any kind of choice!

As a brief aside - my father was with the Allied Occupation Force in Yokohama between 1946 and 1948. Truman, btw - knew a thing or two about firing Nuclear Weapons. He fired 2 to STOP the Russians from moving right down the Japanese archipelago ... once they'd started their own invasion of Japan in 1945. That was the real reason for destroying Hiroshima and Nagasaki but U won't find that in a history book!

respice, adspice, prospice ...

[-] 0 points by factsrfun (8310) from Phoenix, AZ 5 years ago

you elect the GOP and ask "how can people live in cars?" because of you that's how, what I'm saying is quit throwing your fucking vote in the toilet and stop electing Republicans, if you want to do something take over the DNC and do something besides electing the GOP

[-] 0 points by ImNotMe (1488) 5 years ago

Remind me what the actual fkn difference is - between RW Corporate GOPlite Dems and - Batshit Crazy RW Corporate GOP?!!! IF U don't get that they are more similar than different, then U'll always be lost in the past, when differences were a li'l more pronounced!! WTFU & try to get over the Corporate Duopoly!

e tenebris, lux?

[-] 0 points by factsrfun (8310) from Phoenix, AZ 6 years ago

because stupid people let Republicans win

[-] 2 points by ImNotMe (1488) 6 years ago

Is that how McCain won in Arizona?! So now what is your responsibility for that long term fiasco?!! U're a Zero-Sum Game Goon and a Binary Brained Bullshitter, who really just basically represents the DNC; Corp.Dem; GOPlite faction that was once strong here, trying to subvert & co-opt OWS.

Your idol Hellary Rotten Clinton lost to the second most disliked person in USA because no one pointed out to the fkn idiot that THE Most Disliked person was her Pro-Bankers' Neoliberal Economics & Neocon Foreign Policy loving ass!

U have had your lips pressed so tightly to her ample ass for too long to realize or accept this fact!! Face it factsRfukt ... despite. tRUMP being a self-promoting dick, Americans WENT WITH THE DEVIL THEY DIDN'T KNOW, as HRC herself & her fkn prick husband & her scheming daughter & their whole mother-loving cabal HAD NO fkn IDEA how Americans were living in a Post Banker Bailout, Austerity and Uber-Debt Culture!! Corporate Dems and their willing dupes like U are responsible for tRUMP - NOT Leftists!

Trump is a lying skank but stole enough of Bernie's lines & lied enough to win the Electoral College with the help of US's RW MSM. Remember how CNN/MSNC'd rather give DJT coverage than cover Bernie? On top of all this and other shit, people were tired of their kids dying in Bush, Clinton & Obomber's wars.

U've nothing to say on this or other matters because U have just turned into a cranky conservative, with NO idea how the young feel or how so many in US are living. U are addicted to GOPlite Dems - but that here .. makes U a simple minded conservative, who won't see that Corp.Dems aren't all that! So WTFU!

et temet nosce ...

[-] 6 points by Ache4Change (3340) 10 years ago

'When we think of Karl Marx, we think of socialism, communism, revolution, and all things anathema to capitalism. Marxism is discredited and Marx can't solve the problems of the postmodern world, but perhaps reacquainting ourselves with his ideas can help us understand how we got into this dire predicament – and how to dig ourselves out.' from - http://www.nationofchange.org/what-did-marx-know-and-when-did-he-know-it-capitalism-s-dirty-little-secret-1384788175 I enjoyed your old post, thread and links. Never Give Up Explaining And Exposing! Occupy The Agenda! Solidarity :)

[-] 6 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

''The prime movers of corporate capitalism – robber barons that go by such high-sounding names as venture capitalists, media moguls, investment bankers, fund managers – turned the anti-Communist hysteria of the Cold War into a crusade against "socialism" and "big government", promote a greed-is-good ideology, and label everything that they don't like as "class warfare".

''Surprisingly, Marx came close to anticipating industrial capitalism's Achilles' heel – namely environmental depredation, carbon emissions, and global warming :

''The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society. Conservation of the old modes of production in unaltered form, was, on the contrary, the first condition of existence for all earlier industrial classes. Constant revolutionizing of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation…. All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind.'' Excerpted from your link and in compliment, please further consider ....

Thanx for your brilliant excerpt and I loved your link which I wholeheartedly recommend to all readers.

We Must Never Give Up !!! Occupy Wall Street !! Solidarity !

per ardua ad astra ...

[-] 6 points by Ache4Change (3340) 10 years ago

'Capitalism has stopped "delivering the goods" for quite a while now, especially in its older bases (Europe, North America and Japan). Real wage stagnation, deepening wealth and income inequalities, unsustainable debt levels and export of jobs have been prevailing trends in those areas. The global crisis since 2007 only accelerated those trends. In response, more has happened than Keynesianism returning to challenge neoliberalism and critiques returning to challenge uncritical celebrations of capitalism. Capitalism's development has raised a basic question again: What alternative economic system might be necessary and preferable for societies determined to do better than capitalism? That old mole, socialism, has thus returned for interrogation about its past to draw the lessons about its present and future.'

'Imagine democratic enterprises interacting with democratic residential communities - economic and political democracies reinforcing one another and making one another real, not merely formal. Jointly they would co-determine how society functions and changes. That vision and goal animates a socialism for the 21st century. It builds upon, while also critically departing from, traditional socialism's contradictory history. It embodies the aspirations of all those who contemplate the present in the spirit of knowing that we can do better than capitalism.'

The above from the excellent 'truth-out' link and thank you for a great series of very appropriate links. In support, please see - http://www.nationofchange.org/unequal-beyond-edge-humanness-1385738469 - Never Give Up Explaining The Alternatives! Occupy The Agenda! Solidarity.

[-] 5 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

''Chicago is now the second major city - after Detroit - to become a depository for Koch Industries petroleum coke, the byproduct of refining heavy tar sands oil. It's being dumped along the river on the city's low-income southeast side. A Koch Industries spokesperson shrugged it off as business as usual. Charles Koch had recently proclaimed, "I want my legacy to be...a better way of life for...all Americans."

''The Koch-funded Cato Institute contends: "SNAP helps breed dependency and undermines the work ethic."----The Heritage Foundation, also Koch-funded, agrees: "Helping the poor should mean promoting individual freedom through self-reliance.."----But what if there are no jobs? No problem, says Eric Cantor (R-Virginia), "you could go and participate in community service activities or a workfare program."

''Nearly half of SNAP recipients are children. Over 60 percent of SNAP families with children have a working adult who doesn't make enough to pay all the bills.''

I excerpt the above from your 'NoC' link by Paul Buchheit. Things can not go on as they are. We need new ways of thinking to address the problems and opportunities that our new technologically advanced but philosophically and ethically backward societies present. With this in mind, I append :

multum in parvo ...

[-] 7 points by Ache4Change (3340) 10 years ago

'Detroit’s bankruptcy filing marks a grim milestone in the decline of what was once the country’s fourth-largest city, known as the Motor City, the birthplace of the middle class.' Taken from this important video - http://www.nationofchange.org/detroit-bankruptcy-wall-street-lost-revenues-forced-decline-city-pensioners-pay-costs-1386174640 .

Thank you very much for your great link and great video. LOTS of food for thought there and 'much in a little' indeed :) Everyone needs to watch this. Never Give Up Sharing The Information! Occupy Critical Mass! Solidarity & again - http://www.nationofchange.org/open-letter-35-1386087186 - 'An Open Letter To The 3.5%'.

[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

“Throughout history, when people have fought against tyranny and oppression, they didn’t have one perfect Utopian model outcome agreed upon beforehand. They just knew that the invading and old systems were detrimental to their well-being and had to go. We are now in that position.”

Thanx for your excellent link [ http://www.nationofchange.org/open-letter-35-1386087186 ] - Everyone Should See This !!!

fiat lux ...

[-] 6 points by Ache4Change (3340) 10 years ago

'Acronym TV' is doing good work and here's another episode - http://www.nationofchange.org/drone-takes-out-julian-assange-1386516520 Never, Ever Give Up Occupying The Wider Issues! Solidarity.

[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

I've been copying that video link around on the forum and in e-mails. Thanx for that and I append - favour for a favour, the following :

10.10m et quid pro quo ...

[-] 6 points by Ache4Change (3340) 10 years ago

'2013 Resistance Report - Year In Review' - http://www.nationofchange.org/2013-resistance-report-year-review-1388508474 - by 'Acronym TV's, Dennis Trainor & I do hope people watch your video too. Happy New Year :) Never Give Up! Occupy 2014! Solidarity.

[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

''Imagine : If Mayor de Blasio Really Were a Socialist'', by Cliff Connor and Michael Steven Smith :

''Socialism has a tradition in America. Our most famous thinker, Albert Einstein, was a socialist. Martin Luther King said, "If we are going to achieve real equality, the United States will have to adopt a modified form of socialism." Mayor De Blasio, as you take office, we remind you of the song of another socialist, John Lennon, who wrote in "Imagine" that, ''You may say I'm a dreamer / But I'm not the only one / I hope someday you'll join us / And the world will live as one''.

''Mr. Mayor, this expresses the desire of humanity since the days of the prophets. The majority of the people who elected you would be for it. Do you dare ?''

dum spiro, spero ...

[-] 6 points by Ache4Change (3340) 10 years ago

NY's Mayor De Blasio is going to have be closely watched I think, in reply to your excellent link. And -

'There is no question but that New York’s new mayor, Bill De Blasio, owes his landslide victory in the November election to the Occupy Movement.'

'It was Occupy Wall Street’s minions, hemmed in by thug-like NYPD officers armed with sidearms, clubs and pepper spray cans, who in 2011 abruptly changed the national conversation about capitalism, introducing the concept of “We are the 99%,” and focusing attention on the enormous enrichment of the top 1% of Americans at the expense of the other 99% over the past several decades, as a direct result of public policies on taxation and bank deregulation.' From - http://www.nationofchange.org/new-york-s-new-mayor-de-blasio-really-lefty-or-just-another-progressive-poseur-1389105741

Never Give Up On The 99%! Occupy All Streets! Solidarity.

[-] 5 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

''It was Occupy Wall Street’s minions, hemmed in by thug-like NYPD officers armed with sidearms, clubs and pepper spray cans, who in 2011 abruptly changed the national conversation about capitalism, introducing the concept of “We are the 99%,” and focusing attention on the enormous enrichment of the top 1% of Americans at the expense of the other 99% over the past several decades, as a direct result of public policies on taxation and bank deregulation.'' Repeated because it it is worthwhile to do so and re. the thread - also consider :

multum in parvo ...

[-] 6 points by Ache4Change (3340) 10 years ago

Intricate and took time to absorb but thanks for that very important article and so in compliment, see: http://www.nationofchange.org/make-no-mistake-you-are-american-debt-slave-1389886420 I've copied this to you elsewhere but it is very pertinent here too. Never Give Up! Occupy The Issues! Solidarity.

[-] 6 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

''Eisenhower's Farewell Address to the Nation'' (January 17, 1961) :

"This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence – economic, political, even spiritual – is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society." Also see :

fiat lux, fiat justitia, fiat pax ...

[-] 6 points by Ache4Change (3340) 10 years ago

Dr. Michael Hudson Rocks! Eisenhower really saw our current situation coming! And that 'truth-out' article is actually Very disturbing but sadly - VERY unsurprising too!

Now here's some better news - http://www.nationofchange.org/austerity-abundance-why-i-am-running-california-treasurer-1390404698 as I know that you like Ellen Brown. I'm also recommending this article to you - http://www.nationofchange.org/how-wall-street-won-war-and-what-happens-next-1390490287 .

Never Give Up The 99%! Occupy The Agenda! Solidarity.

[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

Kshama Sawant speaking to Abby Martin on ''Breaking The Set'' - with Chris Hedges :

Solidarity 'A4C' & thanx for : https://thedaywefightback.org/ & see : http://15now.org/ .

per ardua ad astra ...

[-] 4 points by Ache4Change (3340) 10 years ago

Kshama Sawant is a star! The same can be said for Abby Martin I'd say having watched and explored your great links. In compliment - http://www.nationofchange.org/mobsters-wall-street-1392224146 and http://15now.org/ is an important site. Never Give Up The 99% Struggle! Occupy The Agenda! Solidarity.

[Removed]

[-] 3 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

“I Wear the Badge of Socialist With Honor” by Kshama Sawant :

''To all those prepared to resist the agenda of big business—in Seattle and nationwide—I appeal to you: get organized. Join with us in building a mass movement for economic and social justice, for democratic socialist change, whereby the resources of society can be harnessed, not for the greed of a small minority, but for the benefit of all people. Solidarity.''

Thanx the strong links which I have excerpted & addressed elsewhere. Solidarity.

prospice ...

[-] 7 points by Ache4Change (3340) 10 years ago

Kshama Sawant Is A Total Inspiration! See (though I think you already did) -

http://occupywallst.org/forum/occupy-response-sotu-president-obama/ and -

Many Struggles Do A Movement Make, so - https://thedaywefightback.org/

Never Ever Give Up Joining The Dots! Occupy ALL Streets! Solidarity amigo.

[-] 2 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

''Lessons from Kshama Sawant's Historic Victory'' :

''Sawant is an impressive speaker and a determined fighter, no doubt. But she is also an ordinary person who happened to attend a couple public forums in 2008 and was impressed with the Socialist Alternative speakers’ political clarity. Through discussions with Socialist Alternative, she decided to dedicate her life to fighting for a socialist world.

''Most ordinary people gravely underestimate our own potential to play a role in changing the world. We should follow Sawant’s shining example and commit ourselves to this cause for which there is no greater reward. Nothing in life is more meaningful than fighting alongside other working-class people to end inequality, oppression, and environmental devastation.''

veritas vos liberabit ...

[-] 6 points by Ache4Change (3340) 10 years ago

'Despite universal demonization of socialism by the corporate media and the political establishment, the Sawant and Moore campaigns demonstrated that “socialism” is no longer a dirty word. Multiple polls, including this Gallup poll, have found that a third of Americans react positively to the idea of “socialism” – a historic increase from decades ago and a 3% increase from 2010 to 2012.' from your excellent link and so to follow, see -

http://www.nationofchange.org/surrender-america-s-liberals-1393430213

http://www.nationofchange.org/robin-hood-tax-take-back-our-economy-1393344562

Never Give Up On The 99%! Occupy Wall Street - all day, all week! Solidarity.

[-] 1 points by WSmith (2698) from Cornelius, OR 10 years ago

"'There is no question but that New York’s new mayor, Bill De Blasio, owes his landslide victory in the November election to the Occupy Movement.'"

You are not saying that OWS & the "Occupy Movement" actively participated in the WISE, yet partisan (Dem) and election (Voting) activity, advocacy and participation in the Election of a Progressive Democratic Politician!? Are you?? Let's hear a Mighty Hallelujah!!

[-] 4 points by Ache4Change (3340) 10 years ago

Of course OWS had a part to play in the bigger scheme of things behind de Blasio's election win but there's little cause or need for any 'Mighty Hallelujah' because too many Democratic Politicians have enabled and cosseted 'Wall Street' - including Bill Clinton (NAFTA & repeal of Glass Steagall) & the current Potus (where do I start? TPP? http://www.nationofchange.org/tpp-v-democracy-1389716297 )

If you really think that de Blasio is somehow representative of the Democratic Party, then you're dead wrong. dB is closer to the Dem rank and file though and you should reflect on that very deeply indeed.

Never Give Up On Core OWS Issues! Occupy The Agenda!

[-] 1 points by WSmith (2698) from Cornelius, OR 10 years ago

And do you think that the negligent & ignorant sate of our democracy is not really Idiocracy?

[-] 6 points by Ache4Change (3340) 10 years ago

The 'negligence and ignorance' has been fostered and nurtured as a matter of policy. The MSM is totally corporate owned and The 99% are kept dumbed down and propagandised to act against their own best interests by The 1%. Also MattLHolck's point has a very real value here too.

The 'Idiocracy' extends to both of the political parties - both of whom have been co-opted by the same corporate interests. OWS is one of the bright sparks of a New 99% Resistance but it took decades to get into this situation so it will take at least a decade or two to get out of it.

Also see - http://www.nationofchange.org/if-mlk-were-alive-today-1390319650 & http://www.nationofchange.org/8-facts-about-american-inequality-1390315279 .

Never Give Up On Looking Forward! Occupy The Future. Solidarity.

[-] 3 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 10 years ago

the constitution out dated ?

[-] 5 points by leandroBR (24) from São José dos Campos, São Paulo 12 years ago

I know i am a bit away from the subject at this post, but since we are talking about socialism, i'd like to refer to a song known as "The internationale"(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcXNXKtu8z4) Two phrases of the lyrics drive my attention. "Don't cling so hard for your possessions/ for you have nothing if you have no rights" and "For though they offer us concessions/ change will not come from above!" No matter what i think of, can't deny those two statements.

[-] 5 points by shadz66 (19985) 12 years ago

Obrigado 'leandro' and working link re. "The Internationale" = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcXNXKtu8z4 (your parentheses were too close ;-) adeus !!

[-] 5 points by leandroBR (24) from São José dos Campos, São Paulo 12 years ago

Oh, thanks for that... I was wondering why my links don't appear in blue... Have a nice day :-)

[-] 5 points by powertothepeople (1264) 12 years ago

Excellent post, thank you.

[-] 5 points by shadz66 (19985) 12 years ago

PttP : FYI, "Republican Socialists, Democratic Capitalists GOP Pols Exploit Anti-Wall Street Rage", by Ted Rall : http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30227.htm . fiat justitia ...

[-] 5 points by invient (360) 12 years ago

Yes I think people need to get away from the connotation of socialism. Is there a way to mold socialism with republicanism. I think so. http://occupywallst.org/forum/republicanism-and-the-constitutional-republic/

[-] 6 points by shadz66 (19985) 12 years ago

@ 'invient' : Thanx for your succinct reply. I think that your post is very thought provoking indeed.

'Socialism' is just a word which thanx to The (mis)Education System & The Toxic-MSM, seems to provoke all sorts of emotional, knee-jerk, negative responses in Americans in particular - whose internalised 'Cold War' Propaganda, still chimes in their Collective Psyche. I am not as particularly attached to The Word as I am to The Ideas.

For example and re. Germany ; The Marshal Plan ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan ) was hugely important to post-war Germany - between 1948 & 1952/53 and indeed it could be easily argued (esp. by the likes of me ;-) that the USA needs a Rooseveltian New Deal and 'Marshal Plan' right now, particularly for its crumbling infrastructure. However, the primary financial beneficiaries of The Cold War was ... The US Military Industrial Complex & The US 'Multi-National Corporations' !!!

The really interesting conclusion to draw is the way post-war West Germany rebuilt & moved its Society forward as a result of being freed from the expense & 'societal energy sapping' of The Military WAR Machine. The same is of course true for Japan. Finally it should be noted that Re-Unified Germany has rebuilt and integrated (and still continues to do so), the erstwhile East-Germany - with all the massive concomitant financial costs involved but still Germany continues to invest in its people & strengthen its Civil Society. Now many - and indeed most Germans, won't necessarily consider that their strong and compassionate society is 'Socialist' but try to dispassionately consider the nature & progression of their Society and I care not for what words are used to describe their system, all I'd like is for every country on Earth (US/UK et al) to have the opportunity for some of that !!

My final point is to draw attention to the fact that 'The Cold War' has been over for well over 20 years (a generation, no less !!) but how come The American Citizenry has seen NOUGHT ; NOTHING ; NADA ... of Any Peace Dividend ?! Or have massive efforts been made to replace 'The Cold War' with an Endless & Ongoing New 'Hot' Global War ... ON TERROR ?!

Et Cui Bono ?

[-] 4 points by invient (360) 12 years ago

I would have to say that you are right... in the sense that the cold war served to transfer power to the military-industrial complex, and to fuel its legitimacy to continue, a perpetual war needed to be started. It is always easier to give power than it is to take it away.

[-] 5 points by shadz66 (19985) 12 years ago

IF you fancy an uplifting & illuminating 15 mins. : Try 'Zizek @ OWS' ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Ck-5fHTnM ! He has a strong sLOVEnian accent so thank goodness for 'MIC-CHECK' !!

Furthermore, re. The Film "INSIDE JOB", about the 2008 'WALL $t. HEI$T, please see :

"It's a powerhouse of a documentary that will leave you both thunderstruck and boiling with rage."

pax, amor et lux ...

[-] 2 points by invient (360) 12 years ago

I would have to say that you are right... in the sense that the cold war served to transfer power to the military-industrial complex, and to fuel its legitimacy to continue, a perpetual war needed to be started. It is always easier to give power than it is to take it away.

[-] 5 points by TrevorMnemonic (5827) 12 years ago

A guy posted this a few days ago. I thought it was pretty awesome.

"Anti-Socialism. This is perhaps the stupidest thing I've ever heard. What do they think the public school system is? Or police? Or fire fighters? Or transportation and the roads you drive on? If they hate socialism, they clearly hate the majority of the functions that make their life worthwhile; not to mention the lives of everyone else who lives in our country. I understand that they've been constantly told to believe that socialism is bad and then referenced to people like Hitler (who, by the way, was a fascist, not a socialist), but for god's sake, educate yourselves on what economies actually work and why. The fact is, having a capitalistic society AND a socialist society is far better than having one or the other. Why? Because if you have a public option (say, public school), then all of the options that would require you to pay (a capitalistic option, such as private school) have to be that much more impressive, competitive, and effective than they otherwise would. Without that competition (again, these guys LOVE competition), we just apathy by those in charge who don't have to really bother competing. They can just do whatever moderate job they feel like, effectively becoming the free standard, but paying for it."

[-] 6 points by shadz66 (19985) 12 years ago

@ 'TM' & 'i' : I too very much like what the "guy posted" and as such I sincerely recommend : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism for cool and leisurely later reflection & thanx for the quote.

I do NOT wish for, desire or advocate State Ownership Of Everything ... FAR from it. I wish there to be a myriad competing entrepreneurs ; I want free and fair competition between the best ideas and many 'modus operandi' in many matters ; I want Equality Of Opportunity For All, especially for the younger generation - Irrespective of 'Class', Financial Standing or Familial Favours & Advantages and I want a Strong, Responsive and Effective Democracy.

In short I am not interested in 'dumbing down' and 'factoring people down' with any 'Lowest Common Denominators' - I want individuals, families and communities to rise up to their Highest Potential. I want an equal playing field and fair advancement to be available for all, no matter what 'class', colour or creed. I have a lot of time for Adam Smith, who often warns against monopoly and cartels and who I regard as a Moral Philosopher more than a 'Free Market Fundamentalist'.

I desire all this for Everyone Everywhere and I yearn for All of Us to be free of The Despotism Of The Banksters and to be emancipated from The Stifling Clutches Of The 'Permanent-War' Machine.

I want a Fair Society with good shared Healthcare For All and good Educational Opportunities For All. I want voting to mean something and I want Political Parties and Corporations OUT of Our Democracies - wherever WE are ... and I do NOT regard all of this as 'utopian' or 'idealistic' .... I regard it as eminently doable and desirable and well within our human capabilities.

pax, amor et lux ...

[-] 2 points by invient (360) 12 years ago

That is a great quote... as always the answer somewhere in the middle.

[-] 4 points by TrevorMnemonic (5827) 12 years ago

Yeah I post this all the time. I've said things like this, but nowhere near as well phrased as this. The guy's whole post was actually amazing.

Here's some other parts. The way it's written is directed toward the opposition.

‎"First, let me state a positive party point for you. Corporations are necessary for a world growing like ours. This is true. They can provide infrastructures and research to develop technologies that small businesses would not be able to effectively produce on their own (at least without a great deal of effort). We are not opposing this. We are, however, not ignorant to the atrocities that they have committed in order to further their monetary actions. There are select people of extraordinary wealth that have exploited the system for personal, selfish gain, at the expense of the American people (or, really, any country in the world). The morality of it is reprehensible. That is something that we do oppose."

By now, you should realize that corporations have lobbyists in government. There is one reason for this: to influence law. That is directly contradictory to a free market. So if you support a free market, then you should be assisting with the Occupy movement, because they are intelligent enough to realize that regulations in our system favor the corporate agendas to an extent where the entirety of what a free market stands for is impossible. In a free market, every competitor has a fair chance. As it stands, we do not have anything remotely close to a free market. The republicans say they stand for a free market, yet are supporting the very ideals that would push us further away from one. Allowing the corporations to go "unregulated" would just mean they retain total control over what regulations they can put on their competitors. And the result is that small businesses would be unable to compete, forcing everyone into a compliance of however corporations wanted to run things.

You seem to hate government for the qualities that corporations possess, but you don't seem to be capable of making that distinction. Tell me, what is health care? It's a fee that is spread between a collective pool to make sure that everyone can get treatment. And what is health insurance? It's a fee that is spread between a collective pool to presumably assist with medical costs. But what is the real difference between the two? Accountability. Whether it's corporations handling a major project or the government, the result is the same with one fundamental difference: who do you trust, and why. And if your instinct is to trust corporations, why? Are you blind to what has taken place? Are you really so unobservant that you can't see that health insurance has been committing atrocities to Americans and those that they are supposed to be helping? They don't have to be transparent or accountable in their actions, and they've been doing everything in their power to grow their wealth at the expense of the people that really need their help. There's so much more to this, but we move on Anti-Socialism. This is perhaps the stupidest thing I've ever heard.... and this part you've read. already in my previous comment.

‎"A debt-based monetary system, where money comes into existence primarily through private bank lending, can neither create, nor sustain, a stable economic environment, but has proven to be a source of chronic financial instability and frequent crisis, as evidenced by the near collapse of the financial system in 2008."

‎"Banks increased their value by lending money imprudently, which greatly inflated the value of bank holdings, exposing depositors and taxpayers to the risks of schemes like the bundling of subprime mortgages, and ultimately bringing undercapitalized banks and the entire financial system to the edge of ruin, creating circumstances where the taxpayers of the United States were called upon to save the banks from their own imprudent lending practices, misspending and mis-investments. The banks' ability to create money out of nothing ultimately became the taxpayers' liability, and raises a fundamental question about a practice of money creation which threatens the wealth of the American people."

‎"Our money system is not what we have been led to believe. The creation of money has been "privatized," or taken over by private money lenders. Thomas Jefferson called them “bold and bankrupt adventurers just pretending to have money.” Except for coins, all of our money is now created as loans advanced by private banking institutions — including the privately-owned Federal Reserve. Banks create the principal but not the interest to service their loans. To find the interest, new loans must continually be taken out, expanding the money supply, inflating prices — and robbing you of the value of your money."

[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 12 years ago

Further to and in order to compliment, the above :

radix malorum est cupiditas ...

[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 12 years ago

In a similar vein :

veritas vos liberabit ...

[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 12 years ago

In order to better understand just what "The Markets" are up to :

fiat lux ...

[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

''Socialism’s Critics Look at Venezuela and Say, ‘We Told You So’. But They Are Wrong'', by Owen Jones :

vox populi vox dei ...

[-] 4 points by beautifulworld (23767) 10 years ago

"Before Hugo Chavez was elected President in 1998, Venezuela was ruled by various neo-liberal administrations. In 1975, 15 per cent of Venezuelans lived in poverty; two decades later, it had surged to 45 per cent."

"The traditional bastion of neo-liberal dogma, the World Bank, reveals that, while Venezuela's gross national per capita income languished below the continent's average before Chavez came to power, it is now $13,120, higher than Brazil or Argentina, and against an average of $8,981. Despite recent economic troubles, the UN revealed that Venezuela enjoyed the region's biggest drop in poverty in 2012."

Often, unfortunately, what happens is, capitalism gets a pass for it's shortcomings, ie. heads turn away at the sight of 45% poverty (and the suffering that goes along with it) in Venezuela, while socialism is criticized for it's shortcomings which rightly it should be when they exist. So, let's be fair, when capitalism makes a mess of things let's shine a light on it because in terms of economics it is deleterious to most people on the globe.

[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

''The Washington orchestrated coup in Ukraine has kept Venezuela out of the headlines.

''A confrontation with nuclear armed Russia is more dangerous than with Venezuela. But the violence that Washington has unleashed on Venezuela almost simultaneously with Ukraine is testimony to Washington’s stark criminality.

''South America has always consisted of a tiny Spanish elite with all the money and power ruling over large majority populations of indigenous peoples who have not had political representation. In Venezuela, Chavez broke this pattern. An indigenous president was elected who represented the people and worked in their behalf instead of looting the country. Chavez became a role model, and indigenous presidents were elected in Ecuador and Bolivia.

''Chavez was hated by Washington and demonized by American presstitutes. When Chavez died of cancer, Washington celebrated.'' from :

Crapitalism only gets a pass because of the Corporate Controlled MSM Mind Management Machine !!

respice, adspice, prospice ...

[-] 4 points by beautifulworld (23767) 9 years ago

"If Washington reconquers Venezuela and Ecuador, Bolivia will be next. Then Brazil. Washington has its sights on Brazil, because the country is a member of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), and Washington intends to destroy this organization before the countries can establish a trading bloc that does not use the US dollar." from the Roberts piece.

The American dominance of the economic capitalist system around the world is simply out of control.

[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 9 years ago

''Major media outlets have already reported that Venezuela’s poor have not joined the right-wing opposition protests, but that is an understatement: it’s not just the poor who are abstaining – in Caracas, it’s almost everyone outside of a few rich areas like Altamira, where small groups of protesters engage in nightly battles with security forces, throwing rocks and firebombs and running from tear gas.

''Walking from the working-class neighborhood of Sabana Grande to the city center, there was no sign that Venezuela is in the grip of a “crisis” that requires intervention from the Organization of American States (OAS), no matter what John Kerry tells you.'' from :

There is so much more to events than meets the 'eYe' ... mainly because what does get told, only gets told by The Corporate MSM. For example, I wonder if Venezuela would be going through ructions - IF it did not have possibly the largest Oil Reserves in the world ?!!! Neoliberal Banksterism has captured The USA !! Now The U$A is its Trojan Horse right across this 'bw' ... our fragile, shared and only hommme !

veritas vos liberabit ...

[-] 6 points by beautifulworld (23767) 9 years ago

Great point re: the oil reserves. Certainly there are other parts of the world in flux that the U.S. couldn't give a damn about.

[-] 6 points by shadz66 (19985) 9 years ago

Time to look - ''Behind The Mainstream Media Headlines'' :

... ''What Is Really Going On In Venezuela'' (Video) ...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37999.htm

fiat lux ...

[-] 5 points by beautifulworld (23767) 9 years ago

"Private media is promoting a distorted view.....to dirty the image of the government."

Why is Venezuela under attack? It has the largest oil reserves in the world which have been used to benefit the people. Anti-democratic movements to attack the government are seeking to change this.

I highly recommend the last minute and a half of this video. That is when it explains everything, starting around 6:00 minutes in.

[-] 7 points by shadz66 (19985) 9 years ago

'Oil is the biggest but not the only reason & 'Never mind that the Maduro government won municipal elections by a wide margin through an electoral process that former U.S. president Jimmy Carter has described as among the fairest and most open in the world. Never mind that the right-led Venezuelan opposition has undertaken a large number of violent and criminal actions that no functioning democratic government could ignore. Or that the “democratic opposition’s” leaders, including Caprilles and the extreme rightist Leopoldo Lopez (a U.S.-educated plutocrat from “one of the historically richest families in Venezuela”) have a long history of profoundly anti-democratic activity, including participation in a short-lived and U.S.-support business and military coup against Chavez in April of 2002. Despite all this and more, “the Obama government continues to fund this opposition even more openly than did the Bush regime.”

''Would Obama be prevented from pursuing regime change in Venezuela by some sort of attachment to the principle of “national sovereignty,” which he invokes in warning Russia to keep out of Ukraine? Please. Let’s not be naïve. Beyond its aforementioned actions in Latin America, the Obama administration has expanded the number of “sovereign” states where U.S. Special Forces are deployed from 60 at the end of the George W. Bush years to 134 (nearly 70 percent of the world’s nations) today.'' from :

fiat justitia ...

[-] 6 points by beautifulworld (23767) 9 years ago

From the compelling "Treating People Like Garbage":

"Through it all, Empire officials have played the innocent. They blame the anger, hatred, and animosity that people all over the world have for the United States on America’s freedom and values and financial success. The conceit and arrogance that afflicts Empire officials blinds them to the truth — that the reason people hate America is because they don’t like being treated like garbage by arrogant, pompous, hypocritical, self-righteous, duplicitous, imperialist political and bureaucratic hacks."

And from the Street article:

"The leader of Latin America’s challenge to Washington’s hemispheric power and to the related scourge of U.S.-imposed neoliberalism, Venezuela has undertaken significant experiments not only in attacking poverty by redistributing its considerable petroleum-based wealth downwards but also in participatory citizens’ and workers’ democracy."

These two pieces segue with the interests of the American people because just yesterday our Supreme Court decided our Constitution is a farce and that the government does not need to promote the general welfare of the people by ruling that political donations do not need to be limited at all.

So, therefore, the American people join the world in being treated like garbage by their own government. Sad to say, but true.

[-] 5 points by shadz66 (19985) 9 years ago

''Treating People Like Garbage'' by JH [ http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38029.htm ] was indeed very compelling, as were your excerpts and points. Thanx bw and in compliment re. Venezuela and with the USG's ''faux twitter clone'' in Cuba, in mind too, I append :

fiat lux et fiat pax ...

[-] 8 points by beautifulworld (23767) 9 years ago

"The claims that Venezuela has a deficient democracy and that current protests represent mainstream sentiment are belied by the facts. The antigovernment protests are being carried out by people in the wealthier segments of society who seek to reverse the gains of the democratic process that have benefited the vast majority of the people."

The crux of the matter is that the wealthy don't want to share, not anywhere on this good earth. Pathetic.

"Since 1998, the movement founded by Hugo Chávez has won more than a dozen presidential, parliamentary and local elections through an electoral process that former American President Jimmy Carter has called “the best in the world.”"

True democracy is a threat to the 1%, hence the Supreme Court's decision to remove limits on political contributions here in the U.S.. A government controlled by the wealthy is what the wealthy want and they get pretty angry when people like Chavez step in and actually make it work for the 99%.

Where do you stand President Obama? Are you going to continue to support the minority, wealthy Venezuelans who want to squash democracy because it is working for the masses and not for their narrow interests? Or are you going to actually do the right thing and stand up for real democracy that works? Would you consider doing that here in the U.S. as well?

[-] 6 points by shadz66 (19985) 9 years ago

''True democracy is a threat to the 1%, hence the Supreme Court's decision to remove limits on political contributions here in the U.S.. A government controlled by the wealthy is what the wealthy want and they get pretty angry when people like Chavez step in and actually make it work for the 99%.'' BAM !!! To see Obummer as anything other than a product of this Oligarchical System is self-deluding !! Democracy is what is needed - on every level ! Also fyi :

per aspera ad astra ...

[-] 7 points by beautifulworld (23767) 9 years ago

"The post-1945 destruction of the New Deal coalition - unionists, socialists and communists - keeps influencing Americans' lives. Today, its effects help explain why popular actions have been so muted against US economic changes since the 1970s and especially against the bailouts and austerity since the crash of 2008."

"First to be destroyed after 1945 were the communists. Coordinated attacks came from business, conservatives, government and media."

"Second went the socialists, largely destroyed by being rebranded as fronts, dupes or simply equivalents of communists."

"Third to be destroyed were the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and unionism generally (later AFL-CIO etc.)."

"Destroying the New Deal coalition dissolved the complex, multi-layered networks of people who had built it. Those networks had also developed and disseminated criticisms of capitalism and explored alternative systems."

"....disorganization is now a major weakness. The United States left fell victim to recurring repressive demonizations of programs, individuals and especially organizations with anti-business and anti-capitalist objectives. To revive left protest on a scale comparable to the 1930s would require rebuilding the multiple, complex layers of connection among diverse components of the left (including those with such objectives)."

I agree with Wolff above, that the left is extremely weak in this country and that is why the 99% have been left out in the cold. Fighting for the status quo is as good as fighting for the 1%. We have no room for moderates, for supporting the current political structure, if we are going to take back our economic system for the people.

[-] 5 points by shadz66 (19985) 9 years ago

Apparently ''You've drawn the wrong conclusion'', lol because .. ''Using the current political structure is the only option that makes any sense. Moderates are only useful so long as we can bend them to our will - which becomes possible simply because of their flexibility.''

Sheesh, I guess that that is what OWS must be all about, huh ?! ''Using the current political structure'' - you know, the same ''political structure'' that got us all in the shit we're in !! Meanwhile - back in reality, when asked coolly and calmly - most people want things that are way to the left of most D & R pols in the US & most Con-Dem & Labour pols in The UK, most of whom are now blinded by Neoliberalism !!!

Thanx for your excellent excerpt and points and I very strongly recommend the following to all readers :

fiat justitia ruat caelum ...

[Removed]

[+] -5 points by shoozTroll (17632) 9 years ago

"Cause everybody knows the UK is so fair to all.

http://tompride.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/uk-pay-rises-nurses-1-mps-11-bankers-35/

Gosh, it must really hurt, not to have an Obama to blame it on.

[-] 5 points by shadz66 (19985) 9 years ago

The sad truths of Neoliberalism afflict us the world over [as per your link] ... but just who-TF said or thought that that ''the UK is so fair to all'' ?!!! Or are u pissed off - yet again that I have the temerity to comment on matters pertaining to The U$A ?!! So, just how big a gormless gimp are you btw - and .. ''gosh, it must hurt'' when anyone criticises your hallowed POTUS, right ?! Now try to consider ...

Your deep seated affiliation for your present POTUS is duly noted - yet again, as is your real resentment at my posting on this forum but ho hum & just keep playing dumb and shilling for tweedletwerp and The Democraps & don't forget to put ''libe(R)topian'' in any reply because that way you can keep pretending that The Corporate Captured & Controlled, Democraps have nothing to do with the fkt up state of affairs !

I have deep HATE for the likes of Tony 'War Criminal' BLiar and deep distrust & disdain for much of what constitutes 'The Labour Party' these days & we just lost Tony Benn [RiP] but you, you fkn gimp - can't see past your li'l Nationalistic Nose or realise The International Nature of The 99% Struggle - because .. you are basically a parochial, conservative who doesn't want to see too much wrong & are more inclined to timidly tinker at the margins, rather than go to the fundamentals of the matters that impact on us all !!

One World ; One 99% ; One Struggle .... geddit ? If not, then just put your leather mask back on, zip yourself back up into your body suit and stay scrunched up in your box 'til someone yanks your chain !!!

temet nosce ...

[-] 3 points by flip (7101) 9 years ago

nice job

[-] 2 points by ImNotMe (1488) 6 years ago

Consider .. ''Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is surging in popularity and offering answers. MMT is debunking popular narratives about the harsh necessity of austerity and belt-tightening. It is showing that money is not a finite abstraction .. but a limitless public utility that can be used to meet human needs. More than this, however, MMT and its heterodox economic cousins offer a framework to build directly democratic, egalitarian political structures, and thus reimagine and recalibrate the viability of democratic socialism.'' - from ...

Solidarity & Happy NY to U & yours flip.

multum in parvo ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 6 years ago

''Dismantling Domination .. What We Can Learn About Freedom From Karl Marx'' - by C.J. Polychroniou with William Clare Roberts:

we've nothing to lose, but our chains!

[-] 2 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 10 years ago

In compliment - TWEET

DKAtoday ‏@DKAtoday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljaXy1t0I44

Gotta get this stuff constantly circulated.

True Democracy = Socialism

Socialism is NOT a four letter word


Socialism has rarely been properly used - as in the creation of a social safety net = Social Security Unemployment Insurance

Unfortunately the ideal Idea Concept Practice has been raped and abused by varying evil rulers/governments.

[-] 7 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

http://www.popularresistance.org/ & solidarity and thanx to you.

pax ...

[-] 5 points by Nevada1 (5843) 10 years ago

Hello shadz, Good website. Always figured the JPM Chase $13 billion deal was fake.

[-] 5 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

''JPMorgan’s Bait-and-switch : The Ballyhooed Settlement Is Just a Scam !'', by David Dayen :

''The first thing you need to know about JPMorgan Chase’s long-awaited $13 billion deal with the Justice Department — to settle a number of civil lawsuits related to the fraudulent sale of mortgage-backed securities — is that it’s not a $13 billion deal. $4 billion of this figure, over 30 percent, was announced almost a month ago as the conclusion of a lawsuit between JPMorgan and the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

''Attorney General Eric Holder, wanting to stand at a podium and give out a really big settlement number, simply folded the FHFA settlement into the Justice Department’s. Why news editors who have already reported on the FHFA settlement would let the Justice Department use it again in its headline figure is completely beyond me. They aren’t obligated to do the Justice Department’s P.R. for them. We don’t say the Miami Heat beat the San Antonio Spurs 200-98, but 100 of those points came from a previous game.

''So, let’s talk about this $9 billion settlement. Even that headline number doesn’t really reflect the actual penalty to JPMorgan Chase’s bottom line. Nearly half of the figure comes in the form of “mortgage relief,” which an independent monitor (and what’s so independent about a monitor chosen by the bank?) has four years to distribute. Any time you extend the time horizon of a penalty, you’re reducing its real value. And in this case, there’s not much value here to begin with.

''The bank only has to put $1.2 billion of the $4 billion into first-lien principal reductions for homeowners facing foreclosure. $300 million goes toward extinguishing second liens, like a home equity line of credit. Another $300 million is earmarked for principal forbearance, where the homeowner still owes the money but gets to skip a few immediate payments. $2 billion would go toward interest-rate reductions or refinancing or even writing new mortgages for moderate-income borrowers (that’s a penalty, writing mortgages that pay the bank interest?), and the balance toward anti-blight provisions like bulldozing homes or buying out properties where the bank has delayed foreclosure.

''Almost none of this represents a real penalty for the bank.''

~

So Nev1, you were right and ahead of the curve in your judgement. Four wee phrases to bear in mind : Moral Hazard ; Perverse Incentives ; Regulatory Capture ; Conflicts of Interest !!!! Solidarity to u & yrs.

multum in parvo ...

[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

JPfknMorgan are just another bunch of favoured, protected, larcenous criminals, who are completely out of control and for further insights into Bankster Avarice, Duplicity And Manipulation, please do consider :

The ''Fed’s transcripts are, perhaps, the greatest propaganda coup of our time. They take advantage of the fact that people simply forget a lot of what happened during the crisis and, as a result, absolve the Fed of any accountability for what is likely the crime of the century. It’s an accomplishment that PR-pioneer Edward Bernays would have applauded. After all, it was Bernays who argued that the sheeple need to be constantly bamboozled to keep them in line. Here’s a clip from his magnum opus ''Propaganda'' :

  • “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.”

''The American people were fleeced in broad daylight by the same dissembling cutthroats the NYT is now trying to characterize as well-meaning bunglers who were just trying to save the country from another Great Depression.'' Thus also consider that The 'NYT' = 'Not Your Truth' !!!

verum ex absurdo ...

[-] 5 points by Nevada1 (5843) 10 years ago

Hey Shadz, The greater the crime, the greater the probability that the crims will get away with it.

A little hope regarding 9/11, as there is an effort to get WTC7 NYC investigation to happen.

[-] 5 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

Re. ''The Other 9/11'' and the start of The Neoliberal Nightmare we're all in - as well as a li'l more in keeping with this thread & your sage statement, try to consider :

Re. the subject matter to which you allude, I will just sort of side step that while still obliquely and implicitly referencing Edward Bernays, with this 'meme equation' and an amusing but relevant link :

respice, adspice, prospice ...

[-] 5 points by Nevada1 (5843) 10 years ago

Good links.

More on Crims getting away with murder--- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvay28lZiHU

[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

That's a disturbing video which has parallels to things that happened to a slew of people after events in Dallas fifty years ago. Even if things 9/!! are like a splinter in the mind [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnbMjAN7Bws ], nevertheless thanx Nev1. I found that as a result of watching your link - tho' I just try not to think about 9/!! too much or my brain aches and I feel sick but folk like you keep kicking my butt when I'm trying to put my head in the sand. Ho-hum, thanx and more pertinently to this thread [tho' of course - ''all things are connected''] - in solidarity with you and The 99%, I'll append and recommend :

fiat lux ...

[-] 1 points by ImNotMe (1488) 6 years ago

''Extreme Capitalism and the Case for a Guaranteed Income'', by Mark Karlin:

fiat justitia ...

[-] 4 points by johannus (386) from Newburgh, NY 10 years ago

Some people believe that Edward Bernays should share the title of "father of public relations" with Ivy Lee , who Rockefeller hired after the Ludlow Massacre. Much of what Bernays learned about "manufacturing consent" was from his uncle, Sigmond Freud. From there propaganda as an effective way of controlling the masses was embraced by the likes of Joe Goebells, Madison Ave and now we have the lobbyists who prostitute themselves to the highest bidder.

Here's a bit more of Bernay's magnum opus "Propaganda," from where you left off.

"...We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized.... In to every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons...who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses as it is they who pull the wires which control the public mind."

We need more people to wake up to these facts, and that will not happen until they turn away from the corporate-owned MSM.

http://pr.wikia.com/wiki/Edward_Bernays

A little story: When I was a young man, my wife and I who were new to the town were invited to an annual cocktail party at Jim Lee's home. Although I knew who Ivy Lee was, I did not know that Jim was his son until later. And although I don't remember the circumstances that led up to us not exactly liking each other, I do remember that we weren't expected to bring the kiddies to this party. Anyway we were never invited back which was fine with me as I thought that bow-tie wearing old dude was an ass.

After doing some research, I went on to discover that Jim Lee as a young man lived in Berlin, working for his dad's PR firm who had a contract with IG Farbin, a huge chemical company that made the gas used to murder many Jews in the holocaust.

[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

Bernie Sanders for POTUS ?!!!

''There is no question that the Democratic Party in general remains far too dependent on big-money interests, that it is not fighting vigorously for working-class families, and that there are some members of the Democratic Party whose views are not terribly different from some of the Republicans. That's absolutely the case.

''My experience and my political instinct tells me that a lot of the discussions about 2016 are minimizing the profound disgust that people are having now with the status quo - and their desperate for a message that addresses that disgust. If I run, I'm not going to be raising hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. I think I have the capability of raising a lot of money and that's important, but that at the end of the day is not going to be what's most important. What's most important is this idea of a political revolution -- rallying the working families of this country around a vision that speaks to their needs. People need to understand that, if we are prepared to stand up to Wall Street and the big-money interests, we can create a nation that works for all Americans, and not just the handful of billionaires.''

spero meliora

~*~

Thanx for your anecdote re. The Lees (you were better off without such parties probably lol) and for your quotes and links re. Bernays and in compliment on this 'World Book Day' (6th March'14) :

pax et lux ...

[-] 5 points by johannus (386) from Newburgh, NY 10 years ago

Bernie Sanders is a rare breed, and should he decide to run for President, I would actively campaign for him.

As for Jim Lee, if he is still around (which would make him around 115-120 y.o.) , I would do my best to avoid him

[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

''How a Brutal Strain of American Aristocrats Have Come to Rule America'', by Sara Robinson :

''America didn't used to be run like an old Southern slave plantation - but we're headed that way now. How did that happen ?'' This article appended fyi & no doubt Ivy Lee, his dad and his son would have approved lol & one party was enuf, imo but alas the same is true of current US Polytricks, ironically.

respice, adspice, prospice ...

[-] 3 points by flip (7101) 10 years ago

while i like much of what Bernie says and does and would vote for him - nobody is perfect! this is from Ashley Smith www.dissidentvoice.org November 15, 2006 First Published in Socialist Worker..........................

Despite his own claims, Sanders has not been an antiwar leader. Ever since he won election to the House, he has taken either equivocal positions on U.S. wars or outright supported them. His hawkish positions -- especially his decision to support Bill Clinton�s 1999 Kosovo War -- drove one of his key advisers, Jeremy Brecher, to resign from his staff. Brecher wrote in his resignation letter, �Is there a moral limit to the military violence you are willing to participate in or support?�

So outraged were peace activists over Sanders� support of the Kosovo War that they occupied his office in 1999. Sanders had them arrested. Under the Bush regime, Sanders� militarism has only grown worse. While he called for alternative approaches to the war on Afghanistan, he failed to join the sole Democrat, Barbara Lee, to vote against Congress� resolution that gave George Bush a blank check to launch war on any country he deemed connected to the September 11 attacks. For veteran Sanders watchers, this capitulation to the corporate Democrats and their apparatchiks is nothing new. He has made it one of his missions to agitate against voting for Ralph Nader, the Green Party and, in some cases, Vermont�s Progressive Party.

During the 2004 election, Sanders announced on Vermont Public Television, �Not only am I going to vote for John Kerry, I am going to run around this country and do everything I can to dissuade people from voting for Ralph Nader... I am going to do everything I can, while I have differences with John Kerry, to make sure that he is elected.�

then there is this thought -

[-] 3 points by johannus (386) from Newburgh, NY 10 years ago

Gee, you really know how to take the wind out of a person's sails! Hopefully Bernie has learned from his mistakes and will continue to be a proponent of the people's interests in so many ways.

Otherwise I'll have to head west to encourage Ms Sawant to run for President. Do you think she likes older dudes? Err...I'm getting sidetracked now.

[-] 5 points by flip (7101) 10 years ago

how about lizzy warren? Bernie is as good as we have right now - i like when he is on tv since he speaks for the 99% but.... he is still a dem and is not perfect - how is newburgh by the way? ha ha

[-] 6 points by johannus (386) from Newburgh, NY 10 years ago

You're right, "Bernie is as good as we have right now.." I can't help, but think back to a time when there were more politicians who were a whole lot better than the lot we have now. Maybe, though, that was not the case and I was just in an 'ignorance is bliss' slumber. Newburgh?...it's ok, but New Paltz is a much more progressive town as you probably know from your lunch stops at PJ's when you are on your way to do some VT skiing. No Crown family up there! Gotta go now.

[-] 3 points by JGriff99mph (507) 10 years ago

Hopefully he goes forward with this.

And if he loses in the primary- and chances are he would- and decides to say to hell with em and runs as an indie, then we will get another glimpse of who is interested in winning the short term vs fundamentally changing the country, or at least the political aspect of it.

Stay in the ranks and you are a god. Leave and you are a unicorn chaser. Democracy in America.....

[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

Maybe 'demoCRAZY deMOCKERYcy' - would be more apt and thanx for your clearly well founded comment and in compliment fyi :

e tenebris, lux ...

[-] 2 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 10 years ago

I love the idea of Bernie Sanders running for President. So much so - that I sent Him this message: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/contact

Announce - Please - announce that you are running for President and make the announcement with a proposed/selected/accepted running mate - like Elizabeth Warren.

Go beyond the general announcement and state a detailed platform = OSTA ( one subject at a time Legislation ) - Money out of politics = repeal citizens united - Ending subsidies to fossil fuel and switching them to clean energy development/implementation along with refusing expansion of fossil fuel extraction - equalizing pay inequality = Women to be paid just as much as Men and a minimum living wage of 15.00 an hour tied to cost of living/inflation also placing a cap on executive pay ( perhaps making it tied to a percentage over the least paid employee of say like 20% - thereby combating inflation as well as inequality ). All of these issues and more - like prosecuting crime the same for all = wallstreet collusion is collusion, conspiracy is conspiracy, fraud is fraud = wallstreet does not require a different set of laws = The Law Is The Law. Fines to criminal business activities will be no less than the amount of damage or theft caused by that business.

Really - RUN FOR OFFICE - And Make It Real for the majority of the population.

[-] 3 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 10 years ago

BTW - TWEET

DKAtoday ‏@DKAtoday

Bernie Sanders 4 President = YAY https://occupywallst.org/forum/in-defence-of-the-broad-church-of-socialism-from-t/#comment-1025392 … This was My comment to Him - can you also send Him support for a real run?

[-] 3 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 10 years ago

Made 4 a good tweet as well -

DKAtoday ‏@DKAtoday

Breaking News - a man is forcibly removed from Supreme Court Chambers for voicing protest https://occupywallst.org/forum/in-defence-of-the-broad-church-of-socialism-from-t/#comment-1025518

[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

Thanx and I'd appreciate your tweeting this (cross) link re. 'News We Don't Hear About Ukraine' :

veritas vos liberabit ...

[-] 3 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 10 years ago

Breaking News - a man is forcibly removed from Supreme Court Chambers for voicing protest about ................... http://www.theguardian.com/law/2014/feb/27/apparent-first-ever-video-of-us-supreme-court-proceedings-released

Hold it - STOP - are we really doing real news breaks? - what happened to the Bieber breaks?

[-] 1 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 10 years ago

i'm not sure if property is not addressed

we will see significant change in the control of our economy

[-] -2 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 10 years ago

Don't repeat your comment to me - send a comment to Bernie on what should be part of his platform - you knob.

[-] -1 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 10 years ago

if he don't come he

let him fade with the others

[-] 1 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 10 years ago

Nice - Thanks - & of course - TWEET

DKAtoday ‏@DKAtoday

Video: Davide Martello’s #StopKillingTour At The Lincoln Memorial http://bit.ly/1iv33tc via @PopResistance

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 1 year ago

30% of French voted Socialist, Communist & Green in 1st round of Presidential election 2022.

This is something the American establishment does not want you to know!

Socialism is normal in Europe!

Portugal, right now, has a Socialist government. Angela Merkel was working with Socialists in a coalition government in Germany.

Socialism is normal in Europe! Why isn't it normal in America? Why do they want to keep America working for the wealthy and corporations and not the people?

Wake up America and demand more!

Here is Richard Wolf discussing the French election results and the way the establishment wants to keep this information away from Americans so that they continue to think the stinky right wing government they have is the best one, when it is clearly not!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqAkbm2foIE&feature=youtu.be

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 1 year ago

Socialist Mélenchon vies to be PM of France.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/23/forget-the-presidency-i-can-lead-france-as-its-pm-insists-melenchon

"Mélenchon insisted his Union Populaire was leading in 105 constituencies, and that a majority of 290 was “possible”. “If I don’t fight for this victory, what do I do: say ‘go ahead give them all the power’?. I don’t want Mme Le Pen to win the country and I don’t want M Macron to keep power. I say there is a third round. It’s for the French to decide who is the head of government,” he said in an interview last week."

Can the left in France get it together to unite and make this happen? Will they learn from fragmented leftists elsewhere how important unity is?

This is brilliant! Bring it on!

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23767) 7 years ago

"US teens often forced to trade sex work for food, study finds"

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/12/teens-america-hunger-food-poverty

The legacy of capitalism, it ain't pretty. And, it takes a foreign newspaper to wake us up to this.

Note to Democrats: "Quit pretending everything is okay!"

[+] -6 points by nibiru2014 (-5) 9 years ago

CRONY Capitalism is what we have had for a couple of decades now. And now you are seeing the results. CAPITALISM WORKS!!! The proof is right there in front of you. You wouldn't be sitting there wrapped up in your synthetic blanket, sipping your Starbucks coffee, tapping on your iPad, texting and chatting with your socialist buddies, if Capitalism didn't work. In all of your theories the inventors and entrepreneurs cease to exist due to lack of incentive. We are all naturally selfish in that we want reward for our toil and labor. If anyone here denies that, then they are denying basic human nature/instinct. What we may consider excessive compensation, was made possible by the very screwy laws passed by our corrupt Congress. As is the same for the housing mortgage scandal. Laws created by our out of control Congress allowed that happen.

Please realize you are being used by failed 1960's communist activists who, then attempted to overthrow our government.

The Tea Party movement is being backed by the Koch brothers through an organization deceptively called Americans for Prosperity. See "The Billionaire's Tea Party" on Netflix.

The Occupy Wall Street Movement started with a writer from the New York Times, Natasha Lennard, re-tweeting a hoax from a good friend, that the band Radio Head was going to be at Occupy Wall Street because organizers were attracting few people. Feeding off of this successful hoax we then had the orchestrated shut down of the Brooklyn Bridge. Where if anyone wanted to be arrested all they had to do was line up and wait, as did Natasha Lennard. Lennard, someone who is supposedly an objective journalist is caught on camera trying to figure out ways to manipulate the audience to become supporters of occupy wall street. See "Occupy Unmasked" on Netflix. See an interview while people are being bussed into a Cleveland Neighborhood. The man being interviewed tells us that he was paid $60 to be there. He did not know why he was there. And Michael Moore at a protest for occupy wall street where the main theme is income inequality??!! How much of his $50 million is he willing to donate to the cause? I bet he was paid to be there.

We need to return to the Classical Liberal form of government left to us by the likes of Thomas Jefferson. As expounded upon by Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged. She is a true prophet, if they ever existed. Based on the predominant moral theory of any society, one can predict their future. It is so true, and we are now seeing "ethical basis and dimension" of socialism/communism/fascism creep ever closer to our doorsteps.

[-] 5 points by shadz66 (19985) 9 years ago

Ayn Rand ?! ''She is a true prophet ... '' ?!! OMG !!! + fyi :

''In America, we debate everything except capitalism. If there’s an institution in your society that’s above criticism, you’re giving it a free pass to indulge all of its weaknesses and darker tendencies. An honest, healthy society would never shrink away from debating where we’re at with capitalism. Can we do better? How might that work?'' Also please consider :

You deserve and will receive a more comprehensive reply but as I am in a rush right now, the link above indicates where I will be coming and is here appended as a primer. Have you got what it takes to read it I wonder ? If so, maybe also try to consider : http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/23075-was-marx-right ?

fiat lux ...

[Removed]

[-] 6 points by shadz66 (19985) 9 years ago

Your attachment to The Binary and pedestal placement of Obomber and belief in one half of the puppet play, as well as your blind faith in & affiliation for .. the illusion of the 'political process of the status quo' in The U$A - is as sad as it is baffling. I do wonder what it is that you think OWS is all about ? Also fyi :

''Obama’s Presidency is continuing the reversal of the New Deal. Unfortunately, that’s the role Obama has played and the legacy he’ll leave.'' And btw did you even read the short Prof. Wolff piece I wonder ?

Not everyone who sees through your hallowed POTUS is a ''repelican shill'' - ''But I think you already know that'' & if you don't, then you're delusional OR up a river in Egypt and without a paddle, to boot ! Demoblican or Republocrat - they're both in the pockets of Banksters and Corporations and in thrall to Neoliberalism and Austerity at home and Neocon Imperial Adventurism abroad !! WTFU ZenDeluded !!!

verum ex absurdo ...

[Removed]

[-] 5 points by shadz66 (19985) 9 years ago

Hmmm. So re. ''the only people ...'' - Dennis Kucinich & Cynthia McKinney .. wtf happened to them ?!!! Elizabeth Warren is being ever more marginalised too ... mostly by her own party ffs !! Your Manichean Binary is self defeating Dog and Chomsky btw, has LOTS to say about the state of affairs in The U$A !

respice, adspice, prospice ...

[Removed]

[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 9 years ago

So let's 'haze the frat boyz' then !!! Dude you seriously telling me that you don't know about DK, CM or EW ?!! Pffft ! Now I know I keep throwing links at y'all ... so leave it for later but you really need to cast your eyes over this, imo :

fiat lux ...

[Removed]

[-] 3 points by shadz66 (19985) 9 years ago

Hmmm, ''more fig leaves'' ?! For what ?!! Are we gonna start swearing at each other again ?!!! Also fyi :

spero meliora ...