One Bad Pig in a System of Swine

Since September 17 a group of demonstrators has been practicing deliberative democracy while occupying Wall Street in NYC. The demonstrators have been heroically peaceful. Unfortunately, others have not.

Occupy Wall Street: 'Pepper-spray' officer named in Bush protest claim | World news | guardian.co.uk

The Guardian has learned that the officer, named by activists as deputy inspector Anthony Bologna, stands accused of false arrest and civil rights violations in a claim brought by a protester involved in the 2004 demonstrations at the Republican national convention.

In case you think that perhaps there was some provocation for Bologna's actions, watch this excellent piece that shows what happened.

Anthony Bologna should not have a badge.

Taxing the Rich Benefits the Rich

People opposed to taxing the rich don't understand why it is such a fabulous idea.

From a BBC News article:

"This administration's insistence on raising taxes on job creators and its reluctance to take the steps necessary to strengthen our entitlement programmes are the reasons the president and I were not able to reach an agreement previously, and it is evident today that these barriers remain," (House Speaker Boehner) said.

Let us assume that the rich are the job creators. I don't buy into this but millions of the citizenry do. Rather than argue with them we will, for argument's sake, play along.

The rich, as mythically heroic job creators, currently don't have a need for all of the workers available. They benefit from having such a large pool to pull from. So it's only fair that they pay for this benefit since they have the means to do so. They can pay for people to sit around waiting until the job creators have need of them for their next adventure. They can pay to keep them healthy since debilitated job applicants would do them no good should they decide to create some jobs. They can even pay to educate them so when they create those jobs they have the best possible pool to pull from. They can even pay for people to sit around and do absolutely nothing because it is cheaper to do that than to finance the criminal justice system that will have to deal with those whose options have completely run out. Ten years obviously isn't long enough for the rich to create those jobs they were talking about. Let's give them more time to hatch those grand ideas that will turn into jobs for people by having the rich pay for people to wait it out.

A little wealth redistribution can go a long way. Help the rich help themselves. Demand higher taxes on millionaires and corporations!

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Apparently it will be streamed.

Global Revolution

Terror Alert and I Just Don't Care!

New York on security alert amid warning of 9/11 terror threat. I don't care anymore. Every freakin' year as we approach September 11th a news story announces some terror plot meant to disrupt observation of the anniversary of what US citizens simply call 9/11. Every year the threat level gets raised yet again. And every year it amounts to nothing.

I think most of us recall the story of the boy who cried wolf. I just don't care anymore.

For the record, I still don't buy the official line as to what really happened that day. I don't claim to know what did happen, but what we've been sold isn't it.

This is the modern day JFK event. Most of the world seems 99.9% certain that the CIA orchestrated that one (while details vary). Most US citizens still like to live in denial about it. The level of disinformation surrounding September 11th leaves a familiar flavor.

But as for these annual terror alerts, I just don't care.

Two Views of the Same Event

Read both of these stories about the same event. Yes, read both of them.

Longshoremen expected to return to work in wake of federal court order

Long History Of Longshore Labor Unrest On West Coast

I realize that both stories have a certain amount of bias, but the FOX version would make a good substitute for ipecac.