Definition of resignation
1 a : a formal notification of resigning
b : an act or instance of resigning something : surrender
2 : the quality or state of being resigned : submissiveness
We're all hypocrites...and bigots. I'm intolerant of intolerance, and bigoted against bigots. It's easy to find fault in others..in part to make our own faults more palatable. You can't expect purity from imperfect creatures. Our biology drives us toward greed in a cycle of hunger and acquisition and reward (so be careful what you hunger for). Purity is a rare condition on our planet. The Earth is all mixed up...air a mixture of gases, oceans a solution of salts and life, rocks a matrix of minerals. There are small rare pure mineral deposits, but most materials must be refined toward purity...and even Ivory soap is only 99.9% pure. The world isn't black or white, but various shades of gray. There are no perfect politicians, movements, policies, nor nations. However there are politicians, movements, policies, and nations working in the right direction. So what is the best approach...to encourage the forward momentum or cast aspersions about the inevitable imperfections?
What brings this topic to mind is the Awan story. Here at c99 we've have been lucky to have Alligator Ed and gulf gal (among others) inform us. It is a spy thriller... Pakistani Spy Ring in the halls of congress tending to the reps computers. Gun and drug trade is involved. And nary a word from corporate media? We have many stories which we don't speak about. Consider 911 with questions about building 7 and the hole in the pentagon not being large enough for an airplane. And for that matter all the assassinations in the sixties. The common thread that seems to run through these so called conspiracy theories is CIA involvement.
The US is a prison state...5% of the world's population and 25% of the incarcerated people on the planet. About a quarter of prisoners are serving time for non-violent drug offenses. Even outside of prison, people are imprisoned within a system blind to their needs because of the sole quest for ever more profit. American citizens can be swept up and sent to black site prisons in another country if they are accused of being a terrorist (including eco-terrorist). Police kill with impunity especially people of color. Hell you can stalk a black kid, shoot them, and claim stand your ground immunity in America...poor Trevon, guilty of being black. Our young people are imprisoned under a mountain of debt they accumulated in obtaining a mediocre education we told them they must have in order to be successful. It is time to escape this prison...
The oligarchs have been working toward this moment for a while now. They have patience and almost unlimited resources. The Koch brothers provide an excellent example of the way we are controlled by corporate interests. Then there's the Mercers and their insidious manipulation of the system for their personal profit. Can't forget Eric Prince and Betsy DeVos and their efforts privatizing schools and the military. Oh yeah what about Jeff Bezos and his corporate empire? …and on and on. These are our rulers. Let's learn a little about them and their strategies as we explore the weeks happenings.
Is there a path toward peace and prosperity in this time of oligarchs? It is difficult to imagine when you consider our actions. It is disheartening to learn of Canada's nationalization of Tar Sands pipelines this week. The Dakota Access pipeline leaked at least five times in 2017 and it is sure to leak more despite assurances to the contrary. It always amazes me how we pursue ever more fossil fuels which we know are less economical than green energy sources. Like a crack or meth addict we seek more of the poison which spells our demise. We must get off of fossil fuels not only to stabilize our climate but to stop all these insane wars aimed at procuring more oil and corporate profits. There is a path. Let's look at some approaches that hold promise, and then we'll tackle the week's news.
It's Memorial Day Weekend. Why is it we always memorialize warriors, but not those who work for peace? So today let's celebrate those who work for people and planet. I thought it might be fun for everyone to add agents of peace they have encountered in the comments. As we begin it is important to consider that perfection is not a human condition. However some people are drawn into the service of peace because they see the insanity of war. Smedley Butler comes to mind...both a soldier and a peacemaker.
I think it is time...past time...to unite the fight to end poverty in the world's wealthiest country, address the systemic racism reflected in our immoral prison system and police shootings, stop environmental degradation, and fund these cultural transitions (and restore a sense of humanity) by ending war. These four issues - poverty, racism, ecological destruction, and endless war – are intrinsically bound together. The Poor People's Campaign began forty days of action last Monday. Each week represents a different theme, and there are concurrent actions in thirty capitols.
Yes, but we would have to want to change. This week we see a chance for peace on the Korean peninsula, so quick start a war with Iran and boost the market! The irony that Iran is the terrorist nation as Israel bombs them ...while Israel shoots children and journalists for marching against the conditions of their open air interment camp. Then consider the repressive kingdom of Saud and the horrors of the US-Saudi war in Yemen. But Iran is the terrorist nation? Looks like our allies are the biggest terrorists in the region to me. This echoes Iraq's WMD. We're gonna have our war like it or not. What citizens want no longer plays a role in our faux democracy. The oligarchs will have their way. Is it possible to escape this insanity? It would take a new system. This week let's look and listen to some forward thinking economists and consider other approaches as we look at the weeks events.
Karl Marx has been proven accurate with his predictions on capitalism...
Marx believed the coming crisis would result from contradictions within the capitalist system itself, and predicted that these contradictions would become more and more acute as the capitalist system evolved. Over time, Marx writes, capital takes control over the handcraft production processes and later manufacture where the workers were in control of the work process, centralizing the workers into workshops and factories. Through the process of competing for markets, some firms win and others lose, capital becomes enlarged and centralized; science and technology are consciously used to improve the productivity of the workplace, thus throwing many out of work while creating new jobs in service to the machines. In the process of competing for markets, unsuccessful capitalists fall into the proletariat and all productive labor, worldwide, come ultimately within the capitalist system
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In addition to the booms and busts of capitalism that swing wider as capitalism evolves there is a constant churning of employment as machines replace men in one industry after another, throwing thousands out of work, thus swamping the labor market and lowering the cost of labor. In all of this the labourers suffer. Mass production, machine technology, and economies of scale will increasingly be applied to all economic activities; unemployment and misery for many men and women results . As capitalism develops the system must necessarily create enormous differences in wealth and power. The social problems it creates in its wake of boom and bust—of unemployment and under employment, of poverty amidst affluence will continue to mount. The vast majority of people will fall into the lower classes; the wealthy will become richer but ever fewer in number.
http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/users/f/felwell/www/Theorists/Essays/Marx5.htm
200 years- 5 May 1818
