Dennis Kucinich: ‘Why I Voted No On Bailout Bill’

Video from Youtuber yrrmom. Dennis Kucinich on Democracy Now says the bailout as written is a “continuance of a transfer of wealth… upwards” adding “this is a very dangerous moment.”

Kucinich says that a former head of the FDIC told a group of congressmen yesterday that the “Bush Administration has been going around the last two weeks actually so tightening up on the practices of banks that they’re forcing them to have bigger reserves which forces them in a way… would kinda create, you know help to create the kind of tight money policies that we’re seeing, that we’re trying to alleviate with this bill. There needs to be a closer look at this…it seems to me there’s a possibility that this crisis has a little bit of manufacture to it…”

Kucinich says that congress has had no hearings on alternatives. He says we need to work on Plan B, to help Wall Street pay for its own problems via stock transfer tax and cancellation of dividends.

Speaker Pelosi from the House floor: “But it just comes down to one simple thing. They have described a precipice. We are on the brink of doing something that might pull us back from that precipice.” (emphasis mine)

So in effect, Wall Street gets $700+ billion from Americans that every economist agrees cripples our future goals, and in exchange we barter the future of generations of American children to come on a “might.”

Breathe, everyone.

For nearly a decade now, these (Bush) bad actors have successfully managed and terrified the American populace. If you’re terrified now, it’s because they want you to be… they’ve come back to us using their standard modus operandi (fear) for a coup de grace.

Let’s not help them. Let’s seize this moment and turn this crisis into an opportunity for change. The Orwellian thinking permeating our nation that a thing is either this or that, black or white doesn’t reflect a real world landscape where oftentimes there are a range of alternatives from which to choose.

This time let’s remain rational… let’s force our representatives to come up with a better thought out plan that benefits Americans and doesn’t target our progeny, condemning them to an Oliver Twist life in a country  “Third World, Only Shinier.”

ETA links

J Gowasky

Resourceful Neglect: What’s Really Going On In America

You don’t have to be a genius to realize that there’s a massive shifting of wealth taking place in our country. If you haven’t heard there are protests all over the country over the bailout plans.

More money, more money, more money: For a long time I thought that the rich and bloated could not have enough and that there was some sort of wild game played amongst themselves of who could build the highest mound of cash. I still believe that. But, now however, there’s a flip side to that thinking, because I’ve come to understand that not only will they have more money, but we’ll have far less or maybe even no money at all.

This massive redistribution of wealth (from funds that Americans will have to borrow via China?) pretty much seals the deal for me as, already, international banks are lining up for their share of redistribution funds.

I’m no economist. Nor have I conversed with any. I’m just an ordinary citizen whose brain stores important information for later retrieval. While lots of people are focused on the here and now, I’m wondering how we got here and were we’re heading.

Here’s how we got here: After George Bush staked down his claim to the White House and all of what it meant to be our first “dictator,” his first meeting was with the business community where groundwork may have been laid to cut taxes. Whether the scheme was hatched then or later the tax rebate scheme would overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy. It took effect in 2001 and was billed as helping the economy.

In early 2002, Bush began talking about “broader home ownership, especially among minorities” for those who previously could not afford them. This announcement came soon after the Senate and Congress began rewriting the bankruptcy code whereby distressed, bankruptcy-declared homeowners could no longer save their primary property. In 2005, a final industry-written bankruptcy bill was signed into law.

Plenty of Democrats, including my own senator, voted for that little piece of stink.

So we have several schemes in a span of just a few years: tax rebates that go mostly to the wealthy; the war in Afghanistan and the Iraq invasion with their accompanying patronage system that includes military privatization. Add to that mix, banking deregulation and a scheme to get more minorities into homes with the caveat of making home mortgages available to those who normally couldn’t afford them.

All these schemes were promoted as helping American taxpayers.

However, if the true goal is to make loads of money while impoverishing America, the scheme has to be widespread covering a number of institutions.

Is it mere coincidence that The Bush Family were deeply involved with the Savings and Loans scandal of the 80’s and 90’s? As was Sen. John McBush, who has a certain fondness for deregulating financial institutions. The similarities between the S&L Loan crisis to today’s banking and investment scandals are striking. The White House, with a slip of the tongue, revealed that they’ve had this bailout plan on paper for months. Oh really… how many months was that you say?

Here’s where we’re heading: The complexion of the American population is becoming browner, everybody. About the time we found that out American businesses had already begun shifting high paying jobs overseas to India, a country that has in place a tidy, though sl-o-o-wly evolving little known or talked about caste system that pretty much keeps everyone in their respective place. An aspect of the caste system operates by virtue of birth, placing darker-skinned aboriginal peoples of India on a lower socio-economic rung than the Aryan invaders, turned rulers and others.

By 2042, America’s white majority will no longer exist. I lay odds that it’ll happen sooner than that. Look at present day state demos.

Economists are saying that this $700+ billion transfer of American wealth from taxpayers will effect generations to come. If that’s the case, they’re talking about it impacting a mostly brown population and probably, by then, a much poorer white population. However, today’s wealth transfer ensures that future generations of the majority brown population will be horribly indebted.

I think a highly educated, militarily strong, wealthy browner-skinned America is anathema to those people who pull the world’s economic strings.

This whole Wall Street mess reminds me of the negotiated downfall of the apartheid South African government. Before the ANC took power certain economic structural controls were put in place. These controls are now so entrenched that anytime the post-apartheid leadership breathes a hint of economic equality for the majority population, the business community steps in threatening economic retaliation. For all their years of fighting, the majority population fares no better under black power.

A couple of years prior to relinquishing control, the South African nuclear weapons and ballistics program, initiated with Israel’s help, was dismantled by then President de Klerk… “they” couldn’t fathom having a black nation controlling nukes. In America, In addition to destroying the economy, Bush has successfully broken the military and has begun privatizing soldiers. Wonder what excuse they’ll give for depleting the nation’s vast arsenal of weapons?

Here’s a little duzy of a quote found on the web that is indicative of a certain mindset re: people of color having wealth and power:

“People think Apartheid was about social repression based on racialism. Nope. Those were tools. Reality was, Apartheid in South Africa and Zimbabwe was about economics. It set up a system where a small oligarchy united by racialism could maximize “rent seeking behavior“ against the majority. It was about “anti-market sustainable wealth transfer”.

“So after ‘white majority rule, ended in Zimbabwe” white elites said, “well we dug this hole for you, and we used the dirt to build up our platform. Out of the goodness of our heart we are now going to take our foot off your head, you climb out and up to our level by yourself.

“See, that is fair and free. Everyone is equal. LOL”

The real sad fact about the entire African continent is that it abounds in natural resources demanded by the rest of the world, yet because of oppressive economic forces and easily manipulated leaders, its original peoples remain mired in turmoil and poverty.

However, even with access to the wiles of technology, the white power structure has little power to control stampeding forces of nature. And along with a continuance of widespread economic oppression will grow leaders much like Hugo Chavez, who instinctively revolt against minority rule and oppression.

There are a very few people who enjoy controlling our economic destinies. They have that power only because we’ve surrendered ours to them.

J Gowasky

Do Americans Have “Soylent Green” In Our Future?

I don’t like to frighten people, I like to inform people… if I’m able. Information that some find helpful others find frightening. I never advocate fear. It leads to irrationality and bad decisions. If you’re spooked easily you may want to consider whether or not to proceed. I encourage readers who are easily spooked to not be. I encourage everyone to to grasp the enormity of the seriousness of our situation in America and think of the urgency of being proactive and not reactive.

I left out major parts of my post “John McCain’s Soylent Green Backdrop” and should not have. In leaving out this part of the post I omitted an opportunity at making present day American life comparisons with those presented in the movie “Soylent Green.” To some, the comparison may be unsettling. To others, sheer nonsense.

Movie synopsis/spoilers: “Soylent Green” is set in NYC, population 40 million. We don’t know why but, there is no access to wild, sprawling lands. We don’t even know if such a thing exists anymore. To say year 2022 NYC’s overcrowded is an understatement.

There are at least three social classes: mercilessly and desperately impoverished; workers, having microscopically more than the non-working; and the rich. By far, the desperately impoverished make up the majority class. The only food available to the masses comes in the form of red, yellow and green “food” squares tossed out at random times. No one, except for the rich, buys fresh food, meat or produce.

Inhabitants of this world are shown standing, sitting and sleeping in clusters everywhere… even on the stairs and landings leading to ridiculously cramped apartments, if you’re lucky enough to have a job. The workers appear to be employed by the Corporation/State. There are assassins, police, truck drivers, “food” producers and those working in the suicide clinic to name a few positions.

Female inhabitants are literal pieces of furniture. They’re bought/sold with luxury apartments that are owned by the rich who live behind impenetrable walls.

In one scene an inhabitant wears priestly garbs. This male is just as helpless and lifeless and miserable as other inhabitants crowding the church. As with every place in NYC, it’s normal for inhabitants who, when unable to fit inside the medium-sized, but impossibly overcrowded church, to simply and haplessly spill through its doorway and down the steps… totally unaware of their long ago God-given birthright to human dignity.

The dispassionate demeanor Soylent Green inhabitants display for their own floundering circumstance has been instigated by an insidious, out of control human force that brutally demonstrates its sole ownership of and rule over all breathing creatures in existence, human or animal. Soylent Green inhabitants have not the slightest sense of past, nor do they long for or wait for a better future. The umbilical cord connecting them to their hopes and dreams is completely severed.

The occupants exist in an irrevocable abyss of Now

Perhaps at one time during Soylent Green’s distant past, hope for a better life was demeaned and ridiculed by the Corporate power structure.

Instead, maybe Corporate/State identified a state terrorist and mounted endless wars in search of that terrorist.

Maybe the Corporate/State stopped funding education appropriately and the drop out rate grew astronomically. People became woefully uneducated, lost the ability to think for themselves and fell victim to a corrupt power structure.

Maybe the Corporate/State took control (at least in the beginning) of all but a very few local and national media outlets, changing media from a public service tool into a profit driven industry having two edicts: propagandize the corporate message of war & terrorism and turn hefty profits.

Maybe the Corporate/State shipped (in the beginning) blue collar jobs overseas before sending the better paying jobs leaving behind in Soylent Green a shrinking middle class, until none existed at all.

Maybe Corporate/State bequeathed the children of the empire an insurmountable debt that taxed and strangled the citizens into oblivion.

Maybe (once), there was a glimmer of hope. The people had before them an opportunity to pick a peaceful, brighter, more prosperous future for themselves and their family. But, maybe the population after countless years of being inundated with blood and death and despair, were now appropriately inoculated against any counter offensive vs Corporate/State. Maybe for far too many people a bloodlust took root inside their minds, strategically attaching itself to a selfish, unyielding call for nationalism, shrewdly disguised as patriotism.

For some others maybe fatigue or disappointment or every day distractions made it too late to hope.

Fait accompli.

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

Some of us need to remove our rose-colored “America is number one” glasses. And fast. Our regressive domestic and foreign policies make our claim to a number one status pure lunacy.

And if we don’t put a stop to this not so new (now at least 8 years old) brand of conservatism- Neo-conservatism- ..their inhumane policies will continue, perhaps increasing the probability of some version of “Soylent Green” in our future.

This Neo-conservatism is religious cultism. It has bullied away countless followers of the more balanced ideology of conservatism. “Left Behind” then are members who have blind devotion and abiding loyalty to their leader(s). Demagoguery replaces rational thought.

Neo conservatism agenda is depleting our education system. Many of our children are in failing schools. Too many American schools lose accreditation. In addition the long-standing practice of “teaching to the test” is eroding the ability of citizens to think critically. In some schools science is taking a backseat to creationism.

This Neo-conservatism has placed Americans in the midst of the worst housing crisis since the Great Depression. Do you ever wonder what happens to those who lose property? Do they rent an apartment? Move in with relatives? Check this out here and here.

This Neo-conservatism that first started shipping blue collar jobs overseas is currently sending white collar jobs there. The official unemployment rate is 6.1. That number doesn’t count all Americans not working, who want to work. The real unemployment figure is guesstimated to be somewhere between 10 and 15%.

Food prices are are skyrocketing. More and more people are going hungry. Our nations is in hock up to the heavens.

Oh… have I mentioned that Neo-con’s are engaging a new and ongoing forceful attack demeaning community organizers… who are often the lifeline for people who’ve lost or are in danger of losing every material possession?

“Soylent Green” doesn’t document how the culture collapses. Nor does it mention what’s happening at the same time with the rest of the world. Have other cultures collapsed as well or did America alone crumble? We don’t know.

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America is being systematically and intentionally weakened. Your question may be why. I have my own theories which HAN may decide to publish sometime down the road. If we do decide to publish, it’ll post sooner rather than later.

Was the McCain-Palin campaign telegraphing a message of poverty and despair to their wealthy, Corporate sponsors? I don’t know. I don’t like conspiracy theories without factual evidence.

And I have only instinct and conjecture: McCain’s staging that night- which media chatterlings made muchado about – on the surface was plain silly. I won’t dwell on it anymore beyond this post. But, that a well-oiled machine was showing idiotic scenes behind him during what could possibly be his last major speech before a large audience is- quite frankly- baffling.

Conspiracy stuff aside, what’s really crucial is keeping Neo-cons away from the White House… for the immediate and foreseeable future.

These Neo-cons are dangerous and are playing for keeps. And so should Progressives, Liberals disaffected Republicans, Conservatives, Independents and anybody else not named, but who can sense the ferocity of the Neo-con agenda.

link added

J Gowasky

The White People’s Party Is Falling Over The Cliff

I had a few thoughts last night while watching the convention. First, my eyes glazed over from watching so many old, white faces gathered together. Those old, white grinning faces represent the face of the Republican Party. The delegates cheered, giggled and clapped while Obama’s experience was dismissed and/or diminished by the speakers.

How familiar the whole scene was… the dissing of black accomplishments by white Americans, unless of course, the black person is bouncing a basketball in one hand.

I thought about how easy it was for the Republican Party to pull off the whole dissin’ thing, ’cause whites don’t know and, some probably care little, about black history. Republicans, especially.

Obama is black. Who cares what he’s done? Isn’t that right Republicans?

Then I thought about how Blacks, more or less en masse, have good reasons for not supporting the Republican Party.

Ever heard of Estevanico, or Jan Ernest Matzeliger or Toussaint L’ Ouverture? No? They are only three of many black men who’ve made significant contributions to our world. Their stories are found within the pages of anthropologist and historian J.A. Rogers’ book, “World’s Great Men Of Color.”

Estevanico (d. 1540) was “one of in a party of the first three to cross the North American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. At least two American states owe their beginnings to him,” wrote Rogers.

*Jan Ernest Matzeliger (1852-1889) invented a machine that sped up shoe production by attaching the sole of the shoe to the upper. Wrote Rogers, “One of the special merits of the invention was that the pincers for pulling the upper were positively closed by a smooth movement and did not tear even the most delicate leather.”

Toussaint L’ Ouverture (1743-1803) led an army of Haitian slaves in a revolt that freed them from French oppression and brutality during the reign of Napoleon.

Little, if any, attention is paid to these or quite frankly many black historical heroes. History as it’s presented today by Europeans is mum on them. That’s actually to be expected by a culture that has systematically lied, short-circuited, cut-off, denied or ignored the contributions of other cultures to our world community.

History is always written by conquerers. To the victor go the spoils. Those victors for hundreds of years now have been European. Part of those spoils includes recording history.  And history has been written to honor the conquerors, to quell dissent of a conquered population or to justify conquests and probably for many other reasons too.

History is written as it happens. History is also re-written as it happens. 

The Republican ploy is to turn Barack Obama, whose own history is proud and full of excellence, into some sort of commie, coke-snorting, muslim terrorist fist throwing marxist. And the ploy is working in those circles that have never been told that great black men and women have made significant contributions to their lives. Or, if told, they can never believe such a thing to be true. 

Republicans show much contempt for history and for black people by degrading Obama because it reminds blacks that they have, for the most part, been belittled since arriving to the shores of America. Republican tactics like this one reminds blacks that Europeans have always attempted to wipe out or silence the accomplishments of black culture as well as those achievements of other brown cultures.

I know full that they are playing “hardball” politics… but, “politics as usual” is what black people are all too familiar with in this country called America.

Republicans would never demean the history of another highly-esteemed “white” man the way they are demeaning the history of Obama.

The Republican ploy is stupid and is short-term thinking… ’cause Republicans, you are running out of old, white folk.

*I was looking for a free scholarly site for more information on great black achievements. Running late on time I settled for this one. It’s for children, but will give interested readers a good place to start research. 

**HIstory has turned black heroes -using their one drop of black blood rule- fully white, which is what some blacks expect to happen should an elected Obama have a more than successful presidency.

Cheers

*updated

J Gowasky

Greener Side Of The Road

Been riding my bike lately. Over the years a few bicycles have piled up in the house. Yet, only thought about riding one after the intense July heat made it far too humid to walk. Hadn’t been on a bike… well in years. But, after arriving several times to my destinations drenched from sweat and damn near sun-stroked, I was forced to consider another green way to propel around town.  Don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. It’s exhilarating.

Aside from the wonderful freedom and the back to nature aspect bike riding offers, you can do clever things like popping wheelies (don’t do those) and riding around in mindless circles with a mean tilt (frees the mind of clutter). Try doing those things in a car. Since I’ve been riding, I’ve noticed that most bikes on the road are older models (including mine). That’s right. Surely to the chagrin of Madison Avenue advertising agencies bicyclists are not subject to their meddling… not yet.  

“Shinier Is Better, Newer Is Well… Better”

Oh, what delicious freedom we bikers have from Madison Avenue’s lure for us to have the year’s shiniest or the year’s new and improved model. (Especially, when this year’s model is exactly the same as last year’s model… only in more colorful packaging). For those clever Madison Avenue overlords tempt us all, ad nauseam, to covet our neighbor’s newer, bigger, better “whatever,” because, they tell you as you stare into your neighbor’s yard, somehow their grass is always greener. Pshaw.

Nope. No stigmas come attached with riding an older bicycle, not even decades old bicycles. No need to worry about getting looks of pity or awful stares from tres chic bikers who must–at the bidding of the overlords– purchase the trendiest ride every two or three years. No need to keep up with the Joneses. In the world of bicycling we graciously accept bicycles one and all… the way old and… the way new. 

You Own It So Long As The Bank Doesn’t Call In Its Loan

Recently saw a bumper sticker on an older model Toyota Celica that read “don’t laugh it’s paid for.” Don’t know how old that bumper sticker is, but I’ll bet that in this time of economic whoa for a lot of people, few are laughing at the driver with one less bill to pay.

Over the years, we’ve moved far and away from the frugal lifestyles of depression-era survivors. The days of having even modest savings are long gone. The days of “mortgage burning parties,” when homeowners celebrated the end to debt, were replaced with reverse mortgages and the 50 year mortgage. It’s shocking to read that many baby boomers–after decades of working hard–still do not actually “own” their own home. Retirement years simply means many more years of work for far too many of our seniors.

As well, the wise concept of  ”lay-aways,” paying for something over time until you could actually take it home, was replaced by the Madison Avenue mantra to “shop ’til you drop” bringing with it an accompanying large debt.

Crying Uncle: We’ve Shopped… and Now We’ve Dropped

No matter. Shop ’til you drop was the new paradigm as we grew frantic about possessing the newest, the biggest, the brightest. Americans completely affirmed the giddy Madison Avenue-driven delirium.

Attitudes are definitely changing in this country. Read an article the other day about drivers who, if they can, are unloading classy gas guzzlers in favor of more less flashy smaller cars with better gas mileage. Many Americans are turning to their bikes for short errands or to even get them to work.

One Debt Deserves Another

Apparently we have indebted ourselves right into a brand new paradigm. A paradigm that dreams of living in smaller spaces and moving closer to cities to lower fuel costs. Good for us.

And next time when Madison Avenue comes calling, Americans can tell them, no thanks, we are already living on the greener side of the road.

J Gowasky

It’s Happening

M. Night Shyamalan’s movie, “The Happening” is a good way to spend 91 minutes.

M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller, “The Happening,” is well worth seeing. It doesn’t contain the summer movie’s mandatory 20 minute car chase, but nevertheless is an edge-of-your-seat thriller.

Shyamalan rips current news from the headlines and extrapolates an incredibly realistic scenario from it.

Critics of the movie are plentiful. Among major complaints is that Shyamalan’s plot is not probable. Possible SPOILER: Without giving too much of the movie away, HAN wonders if those critics have forgotten that the human body is generally designed to self-heal as well as eradicate foreign invaders from our bodies. Seems logical to us that earth possess those very traits as well. Reasons behind the dinosaurs sudden disappearance from earth–including, that it may have been due to a ginormous meteor– are only speculative.

Earth’s age is approximated at around 4.54 billion years. With that in mind man is still a relative newcomer to the planet. Wonder if we’re responsible for the greatest damage to it? 

For years, HAN has wondered why humans have been so careless in our role as custodians of our great planet. Already our lack of sustainable policies may be pushing our species to the brink of extinction. That’s if global warming, impending water wars, or lack of food don’t finish us off first.

We’re sorta smart people, but we really don’t get it. Do we? The question is: What kind of intelligent life would destroy the very thing that sustains it? Is there any other species on the planet that purposefully destroys its own habitat when it is still very much in use? If one such species does exists… it’s clearly as bright as we are, which isn’t very.

Humans might be the smartest species on earth, but obviously we’re not the most intelligent.