Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Blood Bounty Beware

Christopher Dorner, a former Los Angeles Police Department officer, claimed unjust treatment from his employer. Seeking satisfaction, he was hunted for murder in February 2013, wanted for allegedly killing and terrorizing people across California.

To help halt Dorner's alleged crime spree, an assortment of public & private groups contributed to a bounty fund of US$1.1 million dollars. Citizens provided tips ultimately leading law enforcement to surround and capture Dorner, but he died in the process (sheltering in a cabin that inexplicably caught fire, he reportedly shot himself). Now some of the reward funders refuse to pay the bounty, claiming they sought "capture, apprehension and conviction" -- conditions unmet.

Carefully read the fine print. Always get an offer in writing. Reconfirm with a lawyer... So slow.

Plea bargains and the federal Witness Protection Program have also been criticized in the past for promises not met. Surely legalistic administrative scams stand in the way of justice and the public interest. Loss of trust in the system might delay the apprehension of dangerous people in the future.

Pay the stoolies and keep the community safe!


In the Dorner manhunt, LAPD officers reportedly gunned down multiple drivers, mistaking their cars for Dorner's vehicle. In one case, grandmother Emma Hernandez & her daughter were delivering morning newspapers when their car was riddled without warning by eight officers firing 102 shots (also pockmarking homes in the surrounding neighborhood); both women survived. The cops had good reason to feel nervous, but public safety is also important, as is trust in officialdom. The LAPD's quick promise of a replacement truck for Hernandez did not materialize as expected; the Dorner reward money is still unpaid... all this fuels disbelief in public officials and casts doubt on their statements. Loss of trust can quickly become very expensive for everyone. Best pay as promised.






Factory Schools

There has been an upsurge of effort in the USA to make education more responsive and accountable. Teachers are criticized for being chronically unresponsive to both student and society's needs - and fundamentally lazy. Public school systems are regularly depicted by media as out of control.

But wait. This same media is repeatedly accused of liberal bias.

In fact, what's happening is a purge. Teachers are out of control, if we mean not under the control of right-wing demagogues. The real effort is to sweep aside the social checks-and-balances so important in democratic society, such as an independent judiciary, investigative media, and an educated population. The enemy are the people who brought you "The Vietnam War" and "Operation Iraqi Bullshit" -- military contractors,  whoring politicians, and neo-fascist ('neo-con') corporatist schemers.

Mr Corporate Jackass is a captain of industry who knows squat about education. But he steps up to the microphone to condemn 'non-performing schools' and demand privatization. These same people brought us catsup as our midday vegetable, and a soda machine in every school lunch line. They care nothing for children.

Children don't respond in the same way as other raw materials on an assembly line. They can't and shouldn't be trashed as defective. Mr. Corporate controls his assembly line, the inputs and throughput, but the school system has access to children for only part of the day. How well would a factory operate if outside of work hours the line and the components were open to manipulation, adulteration, tampering & weakening?

As Mayor Rahm Emanuel closes 54 Chicago public schools, he's too kissy-cozy with corporate and foreign interests, selling out the future of many neighborhoods and many children. Similarly, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is hell-bent on a more businesslike Camden school district (his lobbying background for Edison Schools Inc. paid corporate dividends as they also placed their former president Chris Cerf as Commissioner of Education for the State of NJ). But let's get real: any ranking creates some group ranked below average (by definition). There is more to education than standardized tests. Local people see the snake and know its danger. Rahm Emmanuel claims to care deeply about public school kids as his own brats enjoy fancy private school where half day for nursery kids costs over $17,000 annually. The ideals of Mr. Mayor's kids's school should apply citywide:
"We ignite and nurture an enduring spirit of scholarship, curiosity, creativity, and confidence. We value learning experientially, exhibiting kindness, and honoring diversity."

But that's for them who owns the factory... common pigs eat swill.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

AEIOU people

Place appeal & destination marketing is greatly dependent on creative "AEIOU" people:
Artists
Entrepreneurs
Intelligensia
Outdoor-oriented
Unusual

Such people are great potential drivers for regional growth, and their personal requirements can be quite simple. More places should put energy & resources into attracting such people. But because decisionmaking bureaucrats are often very different types of people from AEIOU types, they're instead carefully & officially overlooked or ignored.

In other words, while communities need clever & creative people (by definition, the unorthodox) to supply novel ideas and generate future-oriented jobs, shortsighted functionaries actively stifle such potential impact. Look for places actively encouraging the AEIOU - those places promise future growth.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Worse Murder

A US bureaucrat identifies a dangerous person and decides he (or she) should be killed. Which now is worse?

1) An assassin paid by the USA infiltrates the target's neighborhood and suddenly kills the target.

( alternately: )

2) The USA uses an aerial drone to bomb the target's home, killing the target, and others in the home, and also some neighbors.

Why should either option be OK?
Perhaps both are being used now... 

Friday, March 22, 2013

Beef Jerky?

I ain't saying "real American men" should enjoy chompin' beef jerky - that's because the swill sold as beef jerky is often a poor product better fed to lab rats or toothless dogs.

It's become necessary to look carefully for the modifier "solid strips of beef" -- or you'll be sold flaked, chopped formed dry hamburgers full of chemicals.
I bought Matador Beef Jerky, and it claimed:
POWERFULLY  BOLD  FLAVOR
UNIQUELY  TENDER  BITE

Opinion:  Give that shit a miss. Owned by Frito-Lay, the processed product tastes like chemicals. It's difficult to see through the plastic packaging window, and only very careful scrutiny reveals the product is dried hamburger, shaped and roughened to imitate jerky. It has 15 ingredients. There's no mention on the package it's reconstituted (formed from ground bits). I'd call it dog treats, but any good hound deserves better.

This firm is shameless. See their Facebook whoring:
https://www.facebook.com/matador

Big Food Inc. now calls dried hamburger chunks "jerky"

In the olde West, they'd be shot.

Jerky flimflam artists -- you are jerks.

Buyer Beware.


Thursday, March 21, 2013

Raise Your Hand



Text on a bourgeois chamber pot
 ...  pre-revolutionary France
         by    Genki

Raise Your Hand

Raise not your hand in Fury
With blood rushing to your head
You'll be sure to face a jury
Laced with lackeys to the dead.

Raise not your hand to Banish
Rape & plunder by the rich
Mindless greed will never vanish
Interject a sales pitch.

Raise your hand when you've an answer
Raise your hand to show a way
Can assassins excise cancer?
Loving kindness: live today.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Robber, Bootlicker...


Our sad economy is directed by corrupt thieves, our foreign policy flaunted by war criminals. Most commentary is suffocated by corporatism, and a cowed population tolerates only predigested pap in 15-second bites.

The illegal invasion of Iraq ten years ago killed tens of thousands and beggared the western world. The worst criminals still walk free, still serving the crooked private interests that put them in power. A few have been put out to pasture; simply told to shut up & retire.

The below links should remind us: war was imposed with no clear & present danger, and without multilateral agreement. The governments of Britain and USA knew they embarked on illegal war. Key people warned the wider population of germinating war crime, the citizenry doubted government, but cautions were ignored.

On 17 March 2003, British MP Robin Cook resigned in protest as Leader of the House of Commons over the planned invasion of Iraq (launched two days later). Cook was the ultimate insider, who'd just prior served as Foreign Secretary for over four years under Prime Minister Tony Blair. He refused to further ally himself with crime.

Robin Cook's speech to Parliament is a treasure: a highly-reasoned public outburst rarely heard from insiders. In crystal clear & timeless words he condemns the logic for launching "war which has neither international agreement nor domestic support." Cook resigned from Blair's government to vote against committing troops to the invasion of Iraq. This speech received a rare standing ovation from both sides of the House. His words resound in the historical record; they'll long outlast the BBC (Blair, Bush & Chalabi) misstatements & lies.

Here's a recording (mp3) of Cook's highly-remarkable speech:
Robin Cook resigns over Iraq attack plan 2003-03-17.mp3

and a transcript:
Robin Cook resigns in order to vote against war on Iraq

Cook clearly warned against unilateralism, bullying and wielding war in doubtful circumstances.

Two years later, Cook died suddenly (mysteriously? conveniently?). Robin Cook's headstone reads: "I may not have succeeded in halting the war, but I did secure the right of parliament to decide on war."  -- One wag then suggested an epitaph for Cook's former boss: "Here lies Tony Blair - in life, so as in death."

Those who wage illegal war should be tried, convicted & severely punished.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Peace of Mind


Poem of Peace
          by Genki

Assassination
Knife or drone
Justification?
Combat zone

Cryptic subversion
Violent slander
Invites incursion
On our commander

Mismanaged slaughter
Vendetta taint
Too lively daughter
Gender constraint

Grand Arab pumphouse
Fuel hot Son
Faith's flame we hope douse
Glory & Gun

Eye-foreign-eye
A kingdom blind
Omertà wise guy
Peace of mind

Lost generations
Shadowed snitch
No Law of Nations
Abuse is rich

Trickled down half-truth
Press release?
Unsleeping World Youth
Fight for Peace


Friday, March 15, 2013

TGIF

TGIF
Home partners say
They fuss & wonder
Why do you stay?...

TGIF
All done today
Come home Ms Skolmarm
Break away...

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Zion Ryan


America' Faith is Big Business.
Obey Our Bible & Believe.




Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Greasy Corruption

Big oil industry interests in the USA continue poisoning the air against wind power.

Wind energy generation is a wonderful new industry thriving in Europe. There are a great many clever researchers and engineers, hundreds of manufacturers, thousands of employees in fabrication and construction. But in the USA, shadowy scumbags seduce lawmakers who raise repeated obstacles to this and other alternative energy sources.

We all know the high cost of cleanup when oil spills, we recognize the poison by-products of air pollution, the deaths generated by forcing a route to Middle East resource access.

Those costs are truly part of our overall costs of gasoline, electricity & heating oil. Clever corporations have manipulated us into paying for their infrastructure. Joe Public foots the bill, they suck away profits. And now they try to stifle cleaner alternative energy industries as competitors.

We are spooked by terrorists. But it's said "nobody wants to be a terrorist" - they'd prefer to be back home watching goats on the family farm. But now there is no farm, no home. It was all lost to crony capitalism - as some fat sheik linked to Big Oil introduced foreign warships and army bases in order to keep control and extract oil wealth.

Wind farms, solar & geothermal energy generation can be far quieter and preferable to grease power.

Big Oil should pay themselves for political adventurism in Iraq & Libya. We should halt all public funds flows to the rich nations of the Middle East. Recognize the greasy hand too often picks your pocket -- and just say no.


Monday, March 11, 2013

Serving Slavishly

Garbage Times

The New York Times has published an apologist article that provides justification for US Government covert assassination of its own citizens -- murder with no judicial involvement.

Perhaps we should be thankful the newspaper published some author names along with the article - this is lapdog media that often hides sources & composers of systematic misinformation. We're told "the culmination of years of painstaking intelligence work" is assassination, and of another "tragic error" that murdered a 16-year old American boy. Not a single word names anyone responsible, or demands accountability. Anyhow, one more dirty step in a shit-filled nightmare.

Remember how we've been told an untrustworthy Iraqi source nicknamed 'Curveball' under German control led us into war? Mmm -- sure; we're treated as suckers who'll believe anything. However did an American baseball analogy emerge? Just something to fill American heads -- an outward-looking diversion, imagery more palatable than visualizing ourselves as dumb suckers or sheep, or as evil murderers.

We are systematically led to believe we now live in a vermin-filled world, where our shadowy forces of goodness justly exterminate evil enemies in a system with no need for criminal charges or courtrooms. No review of procedures or target(s) need be offered. A US Government "State Secrets Privilege" (link) reigns supreme... ? whatevah.

Arbitrary? Extreme? Lacks transparency & accountability?  Sure !

Words such as safeguards, checks-and-balances, and "rights" as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution have been trashed. Officeholders repudiate the foundation of government.




 

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Republicans Against Government


If we can't govern, No one will.

Free-range capitalist Republicans to Shut down Government

With no checks-and-balances, you'll quickly die to trust us...  



RIP, Hugo Chávez

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has died at age 58.
The world lost an extraordinary person. Many of his accomplishments are in full flower, others are mere seeds as yet. So many struggles, but not silenced by premature death.

Those whose faith is acquisitiveness & self-aggrandizement will never understand Hugo Chávez. But neither are such individuals deeply mourned at death: loss and grief felt by those closest to the grasping rich are counterbalanced and suppressed by pragmatic machiavellianism - the preeminent interest of Homo economicus is on any potential golden bequest.

Hugo Chávez toiled for more than self & cronies.

The works of Hugo Chávez were guided by a strong sense of liberation theology. We might hope the Roman Catholic Cardinals would also reflect on liberation theology, with focus on service & taking action against poverty, as they convene at the Vatican to choose a new Pope. Vital memories of a simple carpenter, fishermen and their small community must animate rigid, ossified doctrine. Please choose a Church leader with a great heart.

Rest in Peace, Hugo Chávez





Jewish Voice for Peace

"Jewish self-righteousness is taken for granted among ourselves to such an extent that we fail to see what’s right in front of our eyes. It’s simply inconceivable that the ultimate victims, the Jews, can carry out evil deeds. Nevertheless, the state of Israel practices its own, quite violent, form of Apartheid with the native Palestinian population."
  --  Shulamit Aloni (2006), Israel's Former Minister of Education

Monday, March 04, 2013

Woof Meat

Industry & government regulators play the public as chumps. Processed food testing for horsemeat adulteration is a stupid, tiny response. Meat must also now be tested for other scuzzy fillers & unlabeled additives. The huge fraud trashed trust. Adding hundreds of tons of horse meat (some 2000 horses) to beef slurry is not accidental cross-contamination. The 750-tonne horsemeat fraud involving Spanghero reportedly continued (link) for six months or more.

Perhaps we're eating dead dog or road kill kangaroo...
'Testing' now is only for horse -- what bullshit !

How much you think we dum?

"Two days’ worth of euthanized animals sit in barrels" in California.  
Every year this one animal shelter "euthanizes about 25,000 animals."
A Los Angeles firm processes the animal carcasses to become fertilizer.
(8 Aug 2004, Bakersfield Californian, p.1)


Saturday, March 02, 2013

Cross Wired?

For many years I've been a fan and regular reader of Wired magazine. But suddenly, what I considered hip & informed looks more shrewdly contrived & dangerous. I frankly (and foolishly) never thought about who owns the magazine and who controls it.


WIRED played a role in what's become the belated trial of Bradley Manning, heroic American military whistleblower / evil traitor / dumb shit (depending on your perspective). An early Glenn Greenwald report on the case (link) questioning the integrity and motives of key people whose actions led to Manning's incarceration. (Greenwald's most recent article in The Guardian labels Manning a "consummate hero" in spite of our "supine media"). Anyhow, I was triggered to question who owns WIRED magazine?


Advance Publications and publisher Condé Nast are controlled by Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr., an 85-year old billionaire American, and his family. Their dozens of magazines and diverse news publications help fabricate & define America and it's values.
God bless us everyone !

Below are some WIRED sister publications:


Looking at information packaging, WIRED keeps hot company. Read with a grain of salt....

 

 Create fantasy while despoiling the world...

 
 




Friday, March 01, 2013

E minus one

Andrew Breitbart died suddenly a year ago today.

He was only 43 years old, but he'd made a name for himself as a right-wing asshole who scorned the weak and repeatedly vandalized others' efforts to help the needy. He was fond of dirty tricks, loudly argumentative, a shameless self-promoter, and a willing tool of ruling elites. He also had a loving family. He scoffed when friends asked him to kindly reconsider his extreme condemnations. Unlike Lee Atwater, Breitbart died unrepentant; his last breath on a dark roadside perhaps a sneer at the local Highway Dept.

Andy died without warning, from a deformed heart.

What's his Eternal reward in afterlife?