American Arrogance is Based on Exceptional Ignorance

Working from the base of the brain stem, the tribal chant of we're number one is all it takes to convince most citizens the US is GREAT. A misleading and profit serving corporate media does its share to maintain the illusion. But what is so great about us? We certainly create great violence and mayhem around the world. We work hard to destroy nature in order to extract and pollute...and woe be unto the country that opposes our corporate misuse of people and planet...because we worship the God of profit.

Media Obsessions Continue to Obscure the Obvious...

Why is it you never hear anyone in the media say Hillary and the DNC meddled in the primary election to defeat Bernie Sanders and become the nominee? It is the one obvious truth no one utters. Instead we continue the Russia T-rump witch hunt, as net neutrality is at risk, children in Yemen and Syria die because of our actions, and the mass extinction event accelerates. It is indeed a media of mass distraction and Amerika plays right into its hands.

Glimmers of Light in a Sea of Darkness

There was some good news this week. We had a couple of court rulings favorable to the environment. People came out in mass to protest the G20. One protester said it was a meeting of the 20 biggest criminals on the planet. There was movement toward a cease-fire in Syria after T-rump and Putin met. Jeremy Corbyn continues to gather steam in the UK especially among young people. Some cities are standing up to corporations (like Richmond, CA). Also worker coops are receiving some recognition. Let's look for success where we can!

Being a Citizen of the Evil Empire
...misdirected and ill-informed

Perhaps war and greed is endemic to being human. Many years ago, a middle east scholar suggested the pattern of civilization is conquest, consolidation, expansion, degeneration, and back to conquest. The middle east certainly has the history to support that theory. Watch this 12 minute video tracing the story of empires in the region before the advent of Islam. Is anything new? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBpQiJt3MUQ

Dreams...

Last week we focused on schools. Like most institutions our tendency is to look at what is wrong rather than discuss what would be ideal. So today let's dream about schools and our society and think about what could be.

Spotlight on Schools …

Several years ago I was at an Alabama State School Board meeting when the state president of the Eagle Forum accused the Board of trying to use schools as social engineering machines. My thought was - aren't all schools by their very nature indeed social engineering machines. So, what kind of society do we want to engineer? To create a society we want, we have to focus on the nature of our schools.

Truth is stranger than fiction

It's been a big news week with the loudest scream being Comey, Comey, Comey, Russia, Russia....it keeps the people distracted. In the Middle East the big scream has been Qatar...better get rid of Al Jazeera as the Saudis start a war with Iran. In the meantime, the house votes to do away with the Dodd-Frank luke warm financial regulation. The Senate rushes to pass some sort of T-rumpcare, and on the day Iran was bombed by Saudi surrogates from ISIS, the Senate passed more sanctions on Iran for basically having elections. In the UK Labour made good election gains and the Conservatives are in a mess prior to the Brexit negotiations.

The Corporate Coup

The success of the corporate oligarchy is evident all around us.... from a “for profit corporation in chief” to his cabinet that owns as much as half the citizens in the country. Like it or not (aware or not) we are subservient to the oligarchs. Remember the fellow hauled off the airplane last month? How about the corporate mercenaries attack against the water protectors at Standing Rock? Or, what about our helplessness as we use our own tax money to finance corporate wars for fossil fuels?