Wednesday, March 27, 2013

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? 


Thursday, February 28, 2013

Banker Trust?

Jacob J. Lew has quietly become U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.

Let's hope Jack Lew serves the wider population and not simply the banking industry. Wall Street financial flim-flams should raise more protests and penalties from Washington.

I'm a bit skeptical when looking at his signature, a series of squirls and a dot. Perhaps he's iconoclastic, or maybe taking the Mickey? Ask your local graphologist, or wait & see how he performs.














Wednesday, February 27, 2013

We're Lunch
















We're Lunch
                                 by Genki

Each should pay our debt, or die
Assert paragons of wealth
Joe Peon fails to comply
Outmaneuvered, lamed in stealth

As bossman takes his pounds of flesh
His lawyers drain the blood
His busboys keep the silver fresh
Our scraps lie in the mud

The well-endowed grab all the gold
And stand upon the slow
Rich whims are instantly bankrolled
We slaves inherit "no"


Monday, February 25, 2013

Oscar Night

We enjoy Oscar Night at my house, though the late timing has us next day picking up the pieces...

Jane Fonda wore a bright yellow dress (link). At 75 she still seems in pretty good shape (after breast cancer, knee & hip replacement, and back surgery). Perhaps she's also had other nips & tucks, but yoga clearly helps.

It was only in reading afterward about the Academy Award night show that Fonda came to my attention, as one writer to a news blog commented about honoring her husband's military service:
     "beiing a Vietnam Vets Wife never watch anything when the Traitor lady is on. He was almost killed over there and too many buddies that didn't make it... just had to turn the channel,and miss the rest of show."

Fonda in Vietnam was a bit before my time, but damage & death done by that war and the warmakers is a responsibility others should admit & answer for: Cheney, Kissinger, Kennedy, McNamara, Colby, Rumsfeld, Nixon, Rockefeller, etc. are truly criminals. Killing and assassinating Southeast Asian farmers & their families, shooting antiwar protesting students at Kent State & Jackson State, trying to club & bayonet democracy into submission - these were the worst of deeds by horribly misguided American men.
























Thursday, February 21, 2013

Cheat Armstrong

Lance Armstrong is now an admitted liar and cheat. According to the transcript of his recent interview:
 
Oprah Winfrey: Did you ever take banned substances to enhance your cycling performance?
Lance Armstrong: "Yes."
Was one of those banned substances EPO?
"Yes."
Did you ever blood dope or use blood transfusions to enhance your cycling performance?
"Yes."
Did you ever use any other banned substances such as testosterone, cortisone or Human Growth Hormone?
"Yes."
In all seven of your Tour de France victories, did you ever take banned substances or blood dope?
"Yes."

Lance Armstrong also defiantly bullied honest people who got in his way. He repeatedly sued, suborned & manipulated. He perverted the legal system.

This is a person without decency. He's surprised his sponsors dismissed him, but America's too lenient. He's a professional thief - an admitted swindler. He's been promoted as a hero when he's a fraud. Armstrong personally stole over US$200 million (link) while his marketing partners traded on his fraud and pocketed billions.

It's tough to find any positive lesson in this cesspit. Lance enjoyed more than a decade of fame & fortune that someone else deserved. Put him in a prison cell with Bernie Madoff, both me-me symbols of corruption and heroic belligerent selfishness.

Lance Armstrong's repeat actions over many years shame his family and his community. Those who wore his yellow bracelet, or purchased products he endorsed, are fiendishly betrayed. He brazenly deluded himself, the State of Texas and his nation. He should be shunned as scum.



Wednesday, February 20, 2013

We Fools Pay


Nuclear power plant near your home or work? Take note! Think of your community's future and your home investment. In a flash it could all be wiped away or made forever worthless. "Fukushima" has become a word meaning poison, foolishness & danger. "Experts" wave thick safety studies and smile assurances - but disappear with profits when things disintegrate. You'll be on your own, with few resources, perhaps injured, radioactive, and in deep shit.



"Benefits of atomic power favor the utility companies while the costs from meltdowns & accidents are shouldered by the public."
     --  Jon Queally

“The Fukushima disaster exposes the shameful defects in a system that only requires nuclear operators to pay a fraction of the costs of a disaster and does not require suppliers of reactors to pay anything."
      -- Aslihan Tumer, Greenpeace International


Tuesday, February 19, 2013

If I wus Zionist


The State of Israel is expanding - displacing all who impede or obstruct מדינת הלכה‎ -- our Halachic state destiny.

Some nations will be enemies, but our Covenant with Yahwe thy Elohim promises:
Exodus 34:24 שְׁמוֹת
כי אוריש גוים מפניך והרחבתי את גבולך ולא יחמד איש את ארצך בעלתך לראות את פני יהוה אלהיך שלש פעמים בשנה׃
"For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land..."

Israel need not stand alone.

Over the past few centuries, the United States of America has displaced or integrated many peoples who are no longer challenging her expanded territories. Likewise, let us cleave to America. We can calm her doubts, find protection in her shadow. America distracts our enemies.

Relations with non-Israelite peoples will be complex, suffering day to day, and year-to-year. But our expanding settlements & outposts, Judea & Samaria and onward, continue outward progress over the longer decades.

Dream of Jerusalem undivided ... and a Greater Israel ...
בשנה הבאה בירושלים



Saturday, February 16, 2013

Poem du jour


A poem's something no one needs
Such efforts ain't considered deeds
Yet reading clever turns of phrase
Can alter life in basic ways.

Please don't imagine this like that
My leisure play that wraps up flat.

Friday, February 15, 2013

Criminal Pass the Buck

Retailers and apologists are claiming that the horse-for-beef scandal is not really a health problem, simply mislabeling. I wholly disagree. Food Fraud is Dangerous to Health

First, this is criminal adulteration of food to gain unjust profit. Substitution of horse for beef is potentially just the the tip of the iceberg. Those companies such as TESCO, ICA, Findus, etc., that have put their brand and label on counterfeit food should be severely penalized. Corporate officers should be arrested and imprisoned. The companies should be fined severely. They must be held responsible for quality assurance.

Findus claims their quality control uncovered a problem, they acted quickly & properly, and they're now being penalized unjustly. But the scale of this problem suggests management was complacent or indifferent in important areas, and lax with due diligence. As with sanitation, it is insufficient to be clean "sometimes" or to say "we washed six months ago" - constant effort & vigilance must be built into operations. Findus perhaps did not properly invest in those dimensions, and instead pocketed that money. What have they done with such past windfall profits? I don't feel much sympathy. Corporate profit-seeking can easily kill. Thousands of children in the USA were killed by "swill milk" before purity became more rigidly enforced; and China's 2008 melamine milk scandal reportedly harmed 300,000 people. Profiteers care nothing for our health; they kill for money.

for more see: Lutter, Randall (2009) "Addressing challenges of economically-motivated adulteration." US Food and Drug Administration. (ppt file) 




Degraded Valor

Lame-duck US Defense Secretary (and former CIA boss) Leon Panetta instituted a new military award for support services that ranks above the Bronze Star awarded for heroism and valor.


"The Distinguished Warfare Medal" can be given to anyone in the military contributing to operations with accomplishments regarded as exceptional. Examples cited by the Defense Department include someone detecting a computer virus, or those stationed thousands of miles from any conflict who operate remote-controlled machinery.

Sly way to dismantle military precedence & honor. For those careful of their own safety it's a boon, allowing them to step over soldiers decorated for valor in battle. Another example of the political game behind American society.


750 tons of Horse

We're told by the French government (link) the horsemeat scandal originated in France, involving 750 tons of horsemeat. That's maybe 1500 horses? A sizable herd... a huge amount of meat, and quite different from beef. Key people claim total surprise. Bullshit.




Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Aussie Outlaws

Australia has two black eyes in the past two years as regards outreach and citizen support services.



The country appears to have done little or nothing to protect Julian Assange, editor of WikiLeaks, from intimidation & harassment.

Sweden has filed charges  xxx

Sweden has issued a European Arrest Warrant that Julian Assange be detained. Supposedly, the detention and extradition is for further questioning by the Swedish Prosecution Authority over allegations of sexual misconduct. But WikiLeaks reporting has so embarrassed top officials worldwide that it's been suggested Assange is in danger of sudden rendition to the USA, or assassination.

Whatever the case, Assange is a citizen of Australia -- and his government seems to have done squat to help anyone.

The second Australian case is Ben Zygier, imprisoned by Israel, held incommunicado, and a suspected suicide in December 2010. Zygier had apparently changed his name to Ben Allen for espionage purposes; he was also known as Ben Alon, Benjamin Burrows & Benji (link).  More recently he's been referred to as "Prisoner X" because of assorted mysteries regarding his identity, crime(s), and mode of death in custody two years ago. Until this week the Australian Government was quiet about the uncommon incarceration and death. But The Guardian (UK) reports Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade has now "launched a review into how its diplomats handled the case." To prevent reporting about the case, the Israeli government had imposed a gag order until today that began in March 2010, nine months before Zygier's still-unexplained death. Treatment of the Australian, held in secret without charge, has brought Israel's secret prison system back into the spotlight (link)And Australians now ask if their government did enough for the detainee before he died (link) ...

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Food Industry Scams


Consumers are often tricked & scammed. Safety agencies and industry watchdogs offer some protection with purity rules and labeling standards, but regulatory efforts are bypassed by "delay, defang & defraud" efforts by profit-hungry producers.

California consumers were recently led to believe that to label foods containing GMOs (genetically-manipulated organisms) would be prohibitively expensive, resulting in thousands of job losses & an epidemic of lawsuits. Over six million voters wanted labels on food detailing genetic-engineering, but 51.4% of the electorate last November voted against "Proposition 37". The concealment group included Monsanto, the California Republican Party, and Pepsico. This "no" group used illegal tactics, and spent $46 million to defeat the measure, more than five times more than Prop 37 supporters.

Future battles with anti-corporate activists will be tougher.


Nearly Every Daily Newspaper in California is Owned by a Huge Corporation...



The present spotlight on minced meat is scary. We're introduced to "value" products (processed meat products using cheap mince). These products contain mechanically recovered meat (MRM, nicknamed "pink slime") and the disinewed meat (DSM) of assorted creepy creatures. We've not yet been informed during this scandal of mortuaries supplying cheap meat, or any flow of meats from stray pets or animal hospitals into the human food supply. But worst practices of course are kept hidden. We must demand clearer labeling and reward whistle blowers for details of fraud.