Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Who's a hero?

Here is an interesting argument regarding the ritual fawning over military folks that you see at the start of every NFL, NASCAR, NHL, NBA and most other public gatherings in North America:

http://blog.independent.org/2015/05/20/the-militarys-heroes-and-the-scourge-of-nationalism/

The statistic that astounded me was the death rates for fishermen and for loggers when compared to military types.  It seems we should be saying a prayer every time we walk on a hardwood floor or inhale a fish stick, if we do indeed wish to show respect for those who have died to allow us to maintain our way of life.

It just shows that the way you die determines your value to our society.  Splash your brains and guts across the interior of your car while on your way to the cottage, and nobody cares.  Do it while interfering in the affairs of a foreign country, and you are automatically a hero. 

It is a strange calculus that our culture has adopted.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Krugman on the TPP ...

... can be found here:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/the-mis-selling-of-tpp/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=Opinion&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs&region=Body

Notice that the red herring put forth by the supporters of TPP always touts the low tariff BS, never the real problem, which is the surrender of sovereignty to corporate dispute panels.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

A frightening, but illuminating, insight into why things are deteriorating

In the game of life, it seems, we peasants are not even playing by the same rules as the rich.  In fact, we aren't even aware of the actual rules.  We're still operating on the myths from the post-WWII boom when prosperity became a expectation for the average Joe.


http://prospect.org/article/political-roots-widening-inequality

Corporations uber alles!!