Attention Walmart Shoppers!

China would like to thank you for making them what they are today. It wouldn't have been possible without you.

BBC World Service

China has overtaken Japan to become the world's second largest economy.

At its current rate of growth, analysts say China will replace the US as the world's top economy in about a decade.

Some day even our "Made in the USA" labels will be made in China.

Socialism vs. Capitalism

Socialism prioritizes investment in society.
Capitalism prioritizes investment in capital.
Of course I speak in utopian altruisms and over simplifications.
Of course.

Progressive Taxation

Senator Sanders has something to say.

This is not a tax on the rich. This is a tax on the very, very, very rich.

Christmas Myth

For several years I was forced to listen to Christmas music at work. Then a giant corporation bought up the facility. Last year when the holidays rolled around, no Christmas music.

Still, that was a whole hell of a lot of Christmas music I was forced to listen to. So while some have started decorating their personal work spaces for the holidays, I just had to plaster this one to my tool chest.

I guesss before 1963 atheists were a bunch of real pricks.

Deception

Noam Chomsky and Robert Trivers discuss deception.

Propaganda Overdrive

Couldn't even make it a week.

In an effort to diversify my news sources I had been getting a feed from an English language Iranian news source. While it was great to see all of the news stories from a radically different perspective, in less than a week I grew tired of the propaganda. It was the Iranian equivalent of FOX News.

News feed canceled.

LHC and mini-Big Bangs

Large Hadron Collider creates 'mini Big Bang' with lead ion.

And it didn't destroy the Earth... yet.

Self Referencing Propaganda

Hunter S. Thompson once cited rumors about Senator Muskie using the drug ibogaine and how that might account for his strange behavior. When questioned about it he reminded people that he had said it was a rumor which was absolutely true because he had started the rumor.

It's more fun when the rumors are outrageous and the reporters admit to circle jerking their own lies. Otherwise we just have a nasty propaganda machine just like the ones that my high school civics teachers told me made the Nazis and the Russians such evil bastards.

The Birth of Jesus H. Christ

It's only the week after Halloween and the Christmas flood gates have been released. The levy of sane, rational thought and financial responsibility gives way to what has become a two month long national disaster. People will over-eat, over-spend, and over-extend themselves to fulfill their impossible dream of a perfect holiday.

All to celebrate the retailer's equivalent of a golden calf, the birth of Jesus H. Christ. In a nation that always wants more Jesus, the "H" must stand for Heroin.

These are a few of my favorite things...

...and some of my least favorite.

Did I mention I'm back? The other campaign is over and the American Dream could use one hell of a fisting.

Worker Solidarity

Can the working class unite? (emphasis mine)

...it is almost common sense today, on both the right and the left, to equate the right-wing Tea Party movement with the working class. It is assumed that workers are more likely to be duped by the likes of Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin. However, analyses of the ranks of the Tea Party have shown that its supporters tend to be wealthier, older, better educated and whiter than the U.S. population as a whole.

Tea Baggers are better educated? That gives me so much more hope for the working class.

Still Crazy

It's not what it looks like. You don't understand. Yes, they bent me over backwards, took my money, and left me to die or rot in jail. They then slapped me around until I apologized for making them do all that. But deep down they are good politicians who really do love me. This little affair with business is just a passing thing. They'll come back to me and love me and treat me right. You'll see. You just don't know them like I do.

Or is comparing voters to domestic violence victims a bit crude? Fine, I'll try it another way.

So I met this total creepoid at a bar. They kept buying me drinks and nobody else was talking to me. Next thing I know I'm waking up someplace that isn't my home, I'm tied up, and my ass is bleeding. The creepoid is there. They stuff a tissue up my ass (so it doesn't stain the carpet) and ask me if I'd like to do it again. I figure since I can't remember what happened the first time, there's no harm in doing it a second time.

Still seems a bit complex.

Stupid poor people for maintaining the status quo!

Damn. It sounds right but it just isn't as much fun as a good analogy.

Every election cycle I think US citizens are going crazy. I think back on the good old days and remember that the USA has never been sane.

The Other Campaign

He's not an anarchist but rather Minnesota DFL (Democrat Farmer Laborer). We don't have the same opinions on everything nor do we see the same solutions. That said, he is my dad and I wholeheartedly support his campaign.

Hiatus

This campaign is going on hiatus while I work on another.

PSA: Don't Drunk Dial Freedom Works

Inside the place where America's favorite toys come from

Do you like all of your really cool gadgets from Apple, Dell, HP, Sony, Amazon, and others?

The fate of a generation of workers: Foxconn undercover

This super factory that holds some 400,000 people isn't the "sweatshop" that most would imagine. It provides accommodation that reaches the scale of a medium-sized town, all smooth and orderly. Compared to others, the facilities here are well-equipped and superior, with employee treatment meeting standard specifications. Thousands of people flock here each day just to find a place of their own, to find a dream that they'll probably never realize.

It's a fascinating read. Haunting.

The wealth of being an American is built on foreign exploitation.

Illegal Everyone

Everyone does illegal things every day. Most people I know will exceed the speed limit. Maybe just a little, but it is still breaking the law. Or maybe you don't always come to a complete stop. Or you stop at the sign instead of at the crosswalk. Or you cross a street at a place other than the designated crossing zone. Ride your bicycle on a sidewalk. Forget to use turn signals. Don't signal your turns and stops while on a bicycle. Use an illegal substance. Misuse a prescribed substance. Use a pirated copy of an operating system or application. Illegally download media. Know someone who participates in any of the above activities yet you don't turn them in. The point is everyone I know breaks the law and usually does so knowingly and willingly on a near daily basis.

Many of these same people who knowingly and willingly break laws still make a big fuss about those who break laws they think should be obeyed. While I could point out many hypocrisies, right now I happen to be talking about illegal immigration.

So why the difference in treatment? A speeder may feel they are in complete control of the situation while their actions can cause insurance premiums to go up for others. Just because a lot of young white males have been documented as speeders, insurance premiums go up for all young white males. It hardly seems fair. Or maybe they get into an accident which kills a few people, slows down traffic, requires extra law enforcement, or any number of results that can affect the pocketbooks of Americans. People cross the streets illegally which can result in the need to install speed bumps, flashing crosswalk signs, stricter speed regulations, and increased law enforcement to monitor these activities. Some people use drugs responsibly while others abuse them at a cost to all Americans. People download media without paying for it causing the price of the product to go up for those who choose to use it legally and requiring courts and investigators when license holders choose to take legal action against offenders. Illegal activity comes with a price. People will yell about the injustice of their actions being illegal yet will quickly point out the illegal actions of others. It just doesn't make sense. It's as ridiculous as the Bible thumpers who are quick to point out that homosexuality is an abomination yet readily chow down on shellfish or pork. Silly.

It is especially silly for us to claim that people have moved into this country illegally when the nation was stolen in the first place. Other people lived here and a bunch of immigrants moved in, kicked them out, and formed a government that proclaimed themselves the rightful owners of said property. If I stole my neighbor's RV and lived in it, when someone else decided to start a home under it, what gives me the right to declare their activity as trespassing? Silly.

First we must admit that we judge people based on their appearance. We can't stop the behavior, only alter the actions taken. Like when I asked a recent immigrant from Vietnam where to get the best Phở in town. Vietnamese eat Phở. It's their heritage, right? Except the guy really didn't care for Phở and would much rather go to a steak house or barbecue joint. My mistake was just as racist as those people who believe all blacks like fried chicken and watermelon or Hispanics cram their entire extended family into a two bedroom apartment. Just because a person looks a certain way or apparently comes from a particular ethnic group does not mean they adhere to the activities we as individuals ascribe to 'those people'. Silly.

That is one of the biggest problems I see with Arizona's new legislation meant to deal with people who see the border differently than we do. It is now possible for a police officer to be sued by ordinary citizens if they think he should have asked to see someone's documentation. Natural born American citizens are not required to carry proof of citizenship. Until I turned 15 and received my first driving permit I never carried any sort of identification. A person who pays cash for goods, doesn't drive, never leaves the country, doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, and doesn't gamble is a very dull individual but they have no need to carry any sort of identification. I know of a former Marine who refused to carry ID after men in suits driving a dark sedan took all of his identification before giving him back his wallet with all the money still in it. He was so worried that these were government agents stealing his identity that from that point forward his thumbprint was the only identification he kept with him. While a bit paranoid, there was nothing illegal about his actions. If he were to go to Arizona today and someone thought him to be an illegal immigrant and saw the police talking to him without asking for identification, those officers could be brought into court. If those officers did request identification from him and he refused to show it having none, they would detain him, a legal American citizen and Marine Corp veteran. They would eventually sort it all out and I am certain our fine and trustworthy police force who have no record of physical abuse or over zealous use of tazers would treat him justly while they had him unlawfully detained. Or a police force with an already long history of pulling people over for driving while black, walking while Latino, or dancing while queer will take the easy way out and consider this a great scapegoat to increase racial profiling even though the law says they can't while simultaneously making them punishable for not doing it. Silly.

I am not completely unreasonable. I allow for a certain generational gap in racism. Anyone old enough to have served in Vietnam gets a bit of a pass. They grew up in different times. Laws allowed for racial discrimination. Those old imprints can be hard to break. They told jokes about niggers and spics and kikes and dykes. They thought it was funny. When they were kids they could be horrible bigots and completely get away with it. Even my own past has had some horrible transgressions. The older bigots know that they harbor racist thoughts. They know how they feel about 'those people'. They are comfortable with their bigotry because it used to be okay. Silly.

Now it is not. People are still learning how not to be racist, but we should all know by now that judging people based on their appearance is not okay. Yet people who should know better continue to do so. They continue to make judgments about people they have never even met. They label them as some separate entity that somehow does not deserve the same treatment. 'Those people' are somehow 'different'. Maybe it wouldn't bother me so much if people admitted their bigotry. It seems to ease the strain with the older generation. Lift the facade of equality and let it be known that we still have a long road towards racial equality. But I'm talking about people who grew up after the Civil Rights Movement. Not really. The Civil Rights Movement has never ended because the bigotry never ended. Racism just dug itself deep and masqueraded as patriotism. Silly.

If you've read this far and you still feel absolutely certain that this country needs to do more to stop the menace of illegal immigration, here are a few tips. Stop eating fruit. You can probably find locally grown fruit picked by genuine United States citizens. If you get your strawberries at a great price from the big grocery store, or strawberry ice cream or watermelons or juice or any other number of fruits and fruit products, you will likely encounter products picked by illegal migrant workers. Unless you can be absolutely certain of the source and the labor used to harvest it, no more fruit for you. A lot of vegetables are out as well. As is most fast food. Many suppliers of beef and chicken regularly get busted for hiring illegals. Yet they are still in business because the illegals get sent home, the company pays their little fine, and then right back to business as usual. Seafood also uses a lot of illegals. Next time you stay at a hotel, ask the management to prove that all of their employees are US citizens or resident aliens. There are lots of other things you should also stop spending your money on but it all gets rather... Silly.

With all that said, it is my personal opinion that all of the illegal immigrants I have come into contact with have broken the law for the right reasons. They were all brave enough to knowingly take extreme risks to improve their lives. Can speeders say that? Electronic pirates? J-walkers? Drug dealers? Any of you people who break the law on a near daily basis? When compared to the bravery of illegal immigration, my daily self-righteous and self-justified crimes seem silly.

Wordcraft

BBC News - BP wrestles with oil spill hitch in Gulf of Mexico

"I wouldn't say it's failed yet. What I would say is what we attempted to do last night didn't work."

Doug Suttles, chief operating officer for BP

Bravo! Not only do you make the words dance, but you get them to tango in 5/4 time.

Woody Harrelson on Stuff

While I may not feel quite as romantic about 'the way things were', I still enjoyed this.

It's Okay to Flip-Flop

Sometimes people need an example to fully understand the possible ramifications of certain actions.

BBC News - California's Schwarzenegger turns against oil drilling

California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has withdrawn his support for a plan to expand oil exploration off the state's coast.

He said the spill in the Gulf of Mexico had changed his mind about the safety of oil platforms in the Pacific Ocean.

Way to go, Arnie. You saw what can happen and changed your opinion. Good for you.