Quickie

Greetings good citizen, for reasons unexplained travel over the weekend has risen to 'ridiculous' levels...thus have I been scheduled to work some bizarre hours [thank heavens for the 'gig economy' or I'd be cleaning house in overtime!]

Since we DON'T get paid for 'idle time' [the time between gigs] dispatch will schedule you halfway around the clock with long waits between runs...

With jobs at 3, 7 and midnight you're kinda screwed when it comes to family time...and I have to go food shopping or it won't get done.

So this will be 'brief', by necessity.

Last night's 'revelation' by Real Time guest Cornell West was the deliberate denial by those running things, especially the ones we DON'T elect [many are 'appointees', hand picked by partisan interests] flatly refuse to do the job they are paid quite handsomely to do.

We need to take a wrecking ball to these 'entrenched' civil servants who rubber stamp whatever they are told to do hoping to collect their generous Federal retirements.

That's another topic our feckless media remains mute on. How much more 'generous' the federal pension system is considering the private one no longer exists!

Something the government [appointees] let happen without batting an eyelash!

Um, while you're busy watching the 'spectacle' unfold under the Big Top, the RATS are throwing the rest of us under the bus while they hope to retire in luxury with their stolen loot.

YOU REALLY NEED TO WAKE UP, our civilization is burning down around you...and if we don't act to save it, we will become the slaves of those who destroyed it.

I'm not telling you what I think will happen, history has proven exactly what I'm say time and time again!

Rise up while there is still time!

Head, you need to get on board and start talking with your friends, start planning what you're going to do to save your sorry tookus from annihilation!

Keep it real Head!

Gegner

Escape

Greetings good citizen, as a 'switch' I thought I'd bring up that other subject that occupies so much of our time, the one that keeps us from super-gluing our own mouth and nose shut, 'escape'.

Why do we call it 'escape'? Because the, er, 'fantasy' involves 'abandoning' your current circumstances, whatever they might be and heading for the horizon with a bundle.

The proverbial 'grab and run' move that presents itself to some of us with disturbing frequency...but like all 'fantasies' there's a 'downside' that keeps us rooted to our existence...inflation.

Yup, whatever you grab, if it's big enough, they'll come after you for it and if they can afford to 'write it off' then it probably won't fetch enough keep you 'hidden'.

But most of us don't dwell on the theft, we want to 'getaway', seeing and doing things we wouldn't ordinarily experience.

Most of our escape fantasies involve 'blue-birds' [an unexpected pile of money falling in you from out of nowhere.] that gives you the ability to drop everything and stroll off towards the sunset.

Like a lottery hit. How many of you 'spend' the lottery jackpot? Are you 'too practical' to plan what you'd do with the money after you hit?

Failing to plan is planning to fail and the likeliest reason why lottery winners go broke.

Because even hitting the lottery for a significant amount can be squandered quicker than you might imagine, or even stolen and the authorities will cluck their tongues and tell you how sorry they are that there is nothing they can do.

But this is escape we're talking about? Isn't this supposed to be a wonderful adventure followed by the Happily ever after?

What part of 'fantasy' don't you understand?

Some of us have grown to revel in the struggle we call 'life' and fantasies have no place in the real world, such as the 'fantasy' that you have ANY control over your circumstances, you don't.

The only places on this planet that are not choked with humanity are the ones that require special apparatus to survive [either pole or the ocean floor, you could include space as well but now the 'equipment list' (and the ability to maintain it becomes it's own 'full time job') so where's the 'fun' in that?]

You 'could' buy a sailing vessel and become a 'wanderer' [this is my 'fantasy'] but it involves keep a keen eye on the weather so you don't get wrecked in the remote and uninhabited ocean islands.]

Yes, only the young dream of returning to a life of savagery, living like the animals...must be all that testosterone. We older folks like the idea of 'sailing' to new ports, meeting new and interesting cultures and getting taken by them.

So it is that even 'escaping' is more complicated than it appears.

How frustrating it would be to learn that if you had a pile of cash it still wouldn't 'solve your problems' considering the cesspit our legal amateurs have let this place become. [We need to end this 'experiment' in capitalism NOW!]

Which is to opine...[and it is my 'opinion'] that instead of seeking escape we'd be better served drastically reducing the amount of 'freemarket suckage' that is inflicted on us by the F-U, Pay me! crowd.

How ironic they have, er, 'learned' to use 'the system' to their advantage and are [with certain reservations] 'living their fantasy'...just don't ask them how they sleep at night, you won't get an honest answer [the slightest noise and they're wide awake...call it a 'side effect' or call it what it is, a guilty conscious...even if they don't know what a conscious is, which is ironic in itself.]

Everywhere you turn we have the media telling us about jarringly expensive social problems...but they have a common root. It's our corrupt and useless 'legal system' that causes these problems, often in the name of 'commerce'.

No irony is lost on the fact that much of what passes for commerce is actually robbery and decidedly 'self-serving'. Why do you think corporations 'hide' from the public? Why do our 'elected officials' let them?

How did we get here when we started with 'escape'?

Wasn't it clear, THERE IS NO ESCAPE .

That's why we are saddled with 'comply or die'.

You're starting to get this, aren't ya little fella?

I'd give you a treat but there isn't one so we'll have to pretend I gave you one and call it good, okay?

See you tomorrow Head,

Gegner

The finest Justice money can buy...

Greetings good citizen, mankind has a long history of Injustice being called 'justice' by those who had the power to inflict their will on the rest of us.

Quite literally the 'legal landscape' is littered with things SOMEBODY 'didn't like'...so it's 'against the law'...and people are fined or imprisoned because of it.

Worse, many unjust practices escape the notice of those charged with dispensing 'justice'...because their JOB depends on their feigned ignorance, worse, it is often they who are put on the spot to decide when certain 'shaky' standards are enforced and when those standards er, 'don't apply'.

[This is why under A Simple Plan 'judges' disappear, they are replaced with 'referee like' magistrates and exist to insure that the law is followed, not to decide when it applies. The Jury makes that call.]

Why do we suffer so much 'injustice'? Because the Laws stand apart from those who must live under them...and the entire 'legal community' is first and foremost a 'For Profit' venture!

You get the 'justice' you can afford...and if you can't afford any, well, your bed is made.

How do we 'fix' this C.F. that is tearing our civilization apart?

Let those who must live under the law, 'interpret' the laws along with the power to decide what becomes law [using the Human Anti-exploitation Law, law number ONE as a guide. ALL proposed laws must first pass muster with the H.A.E. BEFORE being put to the public for a vote! Any legislation the public doesn't vote on CANNOT BECOME LAW! We are a society of HUMANS, we have no king nor is ANYBODY 'above the law'. Our leaders lead, they DO NOT 'rule' (or exempt themselves from wrong-doing as so many of our recent leaders have done.)

How unfortunate for our species that the feckless have turned the whole structure of our civilization into a 'for profit' venture?

Same problem with having a 'for profit' media. The INDIVIDUAL cutting the paychecks gets 'free speech', the rest of us get IGNORANCE because 'for profit media is ADVERTISING SUPPORTED.

It is not in the media's interests to report anything 'detrimental' to their most lucrative customers...is it?

Then there is the 'advertising' itself. it has become ubiquitous and relentless as they attempt to squeeze every last penny from the hapless, defenseless consumer.

[Defenseless BECAUSE those running things have returned to a 'rote' education system that ignores reality and produces 'automatons' that are useless to just about everyone including themselves!]

Do I belabor the obvious when I point out that our Justice System does NOTHING about this? [bad enough being taken for stupid but to compound the problem by leaving you ignorant too!]

Schools DON'T teach critical thinking [it's even an 'elective' in college!] They don't teach civics or the 'purpose' of government, without these 'tools' how will our youth understand their 'place'(in a society that largely has no use for them, thanks to the predations of the feckless few our 'legal system' seems 'disinclined' to stop.

NOBODY needs convincing 'we got problems'...EVERYBODY KNOWS.

Worse, THEY KNOW everybody is 'fed up' but they keep playing the 'what are you gonna do about it?' card.

Little do they know the fire they're playing with will burn them beyond recognition.

Bravado is such a fleeting thing.

Think YOU don't have a choice? You ALWAYS have a choice, albeit a hard one but sometimes ya just gotta do what needs doing, for the sake of your children.

Justice is the glue that holds society together...once it's gone (and pretty much it left town right after Morning in America, worldwide...) it's time for a 'purge' on a global scale.

Exile the criminals, educate the rest! Harmony and peace should be the RULE not the exception!

How long can we tolerate the out of control 'war machine' and their mindless supporters?

Get some rest head, we have a tough road ahead!

Gegner

Freedom

Greetings good citizen, while politicians make sweeping claims about protecting our 'freedom' we often forget to ask them what, specifically, they are referring to.

They 'freed' Chelsea Manning today...but is she/he free from returning to prison? Doubtful.

Freedom, as defined in the dictionary, is 'the state of being free', not particularly helpful to use the word itself as part of the definition.

Freedom 'in context' was originally meant to refer to Liberty...which is defined as 'freedom from tyranny' although since the tyrants were also slavers, it became a rallying cry for the slaves.

Which is to point out, if you're not a 'slave' your 'freedom' is considered a 'given'...but the slavers ensnared us all with their 'debt driven social model' using their own claim of foregoing 'instant gratification' as their 'path to freedom'.

Who we pay and why has a serious impact on the kind of society we are part of. Under the current F U Pay me! Model we are the victims of social VAMPIRES. They suck the very essence out of you so THEY can live the 'good life' often without lifting a finger!

When you object to this unseemly set of circumstances, YOU are accused of being jealous! [as well you should be, not of being accused but of circumstances not available to the common individual and affronted by a system that permits this condition to exist! [Compounded by having the chutzpah of calling it 'luck'!]

The Wealthy aren't LUCKY, they're THIEVES.

They are the social equivalent of Slavers. Your debt enriches them so your labor belongs to them.

Yet we sit still for it!

We need to be clear, YOUR MONEY IS FOR YOU!

Let society's predators go EARN their own. We [some of us anyway] work hard enough that we shouldn't have to 'borrow' to make ends meet, which is precisely what is happening to our ruined social model.

I owe more on my house than when I bought it, which says something about the society we live in.

How many times do I need to point out if you can't afford to live on what your employer pays you it's NOT THEIR PROBLEM, IT'S YOURS!
So how long are YOU going to let them keep their foot on your throat?

Shouldn't you be FREE?

Not what to think but certainly something to think about.

And before the [stupid] Old man tells you 'It's how we've always done it...some make it and many don't, live with it!'

Tell that clown to STFU, he obviously has no solutions to offer.

YOUR MONEY IS FOR YOU is an idea whose time has come!

It's not a 'money problem, it's a LEGAL ONE...and those charged with enforcing the law, won't be later because they're on the take!

Let that one 'ferment' and see what brews, Good-bye head, see you tomorrow

Gegner

Sacrifice & Self-interest

Greetings good citizen, it is common for kids to grow up resenting their parents for not being rich, especially when they are little and don't understand why they aren't going to Disney over school break [either of them...this kid has never been and I don't regret it...nor do I, 'resent' my parents for not providing me with 'the life of privilege' I felt I deserved.

Somewhat ironic to read that certain wealthy kid's parents would make it a point to deny their progeny their 'hearts desire' as a form of 'tough love', in hopes of preparing them for the frustration of not getting what you want , when you want it...even if you regret it the second it is yours...

This seldom worked but the 'strategy' is sound. Makes sense although little else does in this life we SHARE.

Back to kids hating their parents for being 'poor'...

Around the time we start earning our own way [something millennials are still trying to achieve] we begin to realize that life ISN'T 'Fair' despite what we were taught as we grew older.

With this realization comes the notion that hey, our parents did the best they could for us playing the hand fate had dealt them.

Boy, by the time this realization set in we were already sick & tired of hearing about not complaining about the hands life dealt us, it was what it was.

But is it?

While the wealthy 'sequester' themselves from having to 'mingle' with us commoners, we still 'share' this existence. Kids whose parents can afford to send them to private schools may have different childhood resentments to nurture, like not being born to parents that have a private ski chalet in St. Moritz or the ability to spend school vacations with them while they grew up.

Here is neither the time nor the place to go into how some of the wealthy 'warehouse' their kids, shipping them off to boarding school as soon as they are old enough to be on their own and only 'visiting' them on holidays and special occasions.

Which is to point out that some of those lording over the rest of us have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in 'common' with the rest of us, nothing in the slightest. [This isn't their fault but this is the likeliest explanation for why scientists are striving to create AI controlled robots during a planetary wide population crisis.

THis can only serve one purpose and it isn't the 'salvation of mankind'...

That purpose is the 'extermination order' being fulfilled.

[Few would contest that we are an extraordinarily 'self-destructive' species...something you find nowhere else in 'nature' (which is to opine we aren't exactly 'natural' either.)]

That said I am inclined to 'back away' from this argument that we are 'genetically predisposed' to behave irrationally, that our consistent, reckless disregard for our collective 'best interests' [leave our individual interests aside, they don't even enter the picture most of the time.] because this leads us to blame 'everything' on our 'programming'. [We can't help it, its how we were built/engineered!]

While there is proof 'racial memory' exists (and lends a certain credence to the theory that this is a 'prison planet', which is to state that the 'rainbow' we see here ISN'T 'naturally occurring', neither are the tensions we nurture over the 'perceived differences' between us.) Um, the 'opinion makers' among us tend to take the 'easy out' whenever it is presented.

Remember, it wasn't too terribly long ago that 'science' taught the world was 'flat'. [Not ALL science is concrete 'fact'! Much of it is 'speculation and 'best guesses'.]

But we've already determined that 'smart' is a 'rare commodity'.

Worse is how 'smart' is difficult to 'quantify'. There is more to life/understanding than mathematics...in fact much of what ails our species is directly traceable to the embracing of a 'everything is mathematical' mindset. [If the 'math' is sound, so is the logic!]

Life 'by the numbers' are driving us off a cliff and nobody knows how to turn the beast aside!

I just glanced at the title of today's piece and note that I am wildly 'off topic' [but what else is 'new'?]

I started this post with the notion that, given our 'common existence', the outcomes experienced by the majority need to be more, er, 'uniform'.

Some would opine they already are, MOST of us live lives of misery, struggling all their lives with debt that continues to grow with age while the few live lives of worry...worry that they will be found out and executed for their predation.

THis is the importance of knowing all money is funny and that money exists so YOU can 'specialized', thereby bringing 'a better life' to us ALL.

But no, this isn't the case. This is NOT what the majority experiences. You get paid barely enough to live on (if you can find work at all!) and your debts keep multiplying because life is filled with 'incidentals' that YOU must pay for out of your meager food budget! [it's the ONLY place you can cut.]

THIS ISN'T AN ACCIDENT!

90% of the working population lives 'HAND TO MOUTH' not because it is 'necessary' but to keep YOU 'hungry and humble'.

It is 'believed' by those who have nothing in common with you that you would be 'spoiled' by a life that offers you even a taste of what they have.

Wouldn't you LIKE to go on vacation, someplace warm when it's cold and someplace fun when it's not?

But NO...your 'reality' is you vacation time is used to 'save money'. Instead of taking time off to enjoy yourself, your vacation is spent doing 'home improvement' in a futile attempt to stem the endless flow of funds dedicated to keeping a roof over your heads and the furnace running during the cold weather...where SOME of you have to choose between heating and eating.

You regularly 'sacrifice' [life's tiny luxuries] so your kids [who resent you for being 'poor'] don't go without.

Why won't you FIGHT to level a decidedly tilted playing field?

And by 'fight' I mean sit down and do NOTHING!

It is because you 'fear' what might happen.

And you are correct to fear it! They have money to price you clean out of the market...but YOU have numbers on your side...and there is strength in numbers. if they can buy it YOU can TAKE IT. [Chances are you MADE it in the first place...and money only exist to make it possible for you to make what you couldn't waste the time on if you had to do EVERYTHING YOURSELF!

Which is to opine that YOUR PAYCHECK SHOULD PROVIDE YOU WITH A [not necessarily THE] Good Life!

A darn good life but NO...those you work for don't want YOU getting spoiled! They fear if you had it 'good' that you wouldn't jump at the opportunity to work overtime on the holidays...not that there will be may of those left at the rate they are cutting back!

We have already been reduced to a 'gig' economy where some of the feckless rent out rooms in their home for the extra income it provides!

Where will it end?

With you in your grave if you don't stand up to them now!

Ironically, few of any life experience fear dying...but we ALL love a good time, spent with good friends...why do we let our friends suffer?

It really is UP TO YOU!

Again, not what to think but something to think about!

Goodbye head, see you tomorrow!

Gegner

Rational

Greetings good citizen, I awoke this morning musing about 'rationality' and how little of it appears to be evident in the public square.

Funny how this leads to the question 'What do we KNOW [as opposed to what do we THINK we know?]

The disparity between the two sets is numbing in its whimsy.

We find ourselves in DENIAL about so many things that we literally KNOW nothing while convincing ourselves we have 'all the facts'.

What led us here? The eye that never blinks.

Not that we get much help from it's 'older sibling' black, white and 'read' all over It too is unreliable because it delivers its own version of what passes for 'knowledge'.

Not that it's entirely useless...look at this quote by Paul Krugman:

There were and are poseurs like Paul Ryan, who claim to be big deficit hawks. But there’s a simple way to test such people’s sincerity: when they propose sacrifices in the name of fiscal responsibility, do those sacrifices ever involve their own political priorities? And they never do. That is, when you see a politician claim that deficit concerns require that we slash Medicaid, privatize Medicare, and/or raise the retirement age — but somehow never require raising taxes on the wealthy, which in fact they propose to cut — you know that it’s just an act.

Trillions for war but not a cent left over for the public weal...where do these people come from? Worse, how do the get elected?

No Rational person would vote for them but isn't that where all of this started? The utter lack of 'rationality' from the public discussion?

Why do people 'tune out' when the talking heads start blathering about something nobody cares about?

[Self-answering question...inserted to insure you are paying attention...]

First, they don't care if you're paying attention, their job is to fill empty space with 'something' and if that something is more 'sensational' than 'factual'...oh well.

Problem here is it's 'assumed' that YOU [almost everything in your head comes from 'the eye that never blinks'] KNOW how to sort 'fact from fiction'...until politicians start messing with your head by calling what you interpret as 'truth' to be merely 'alternate facts'.

Implying in that assertion that YOU remain ignorant of the truth...when in fact you are 'spot on'.

Oh don't worry, they intend to play that card as well only when they acknowledge you were correct it will be them insisting YOU SCREWED UP! Which like the 'alternative facts' is done to intentionally confuse you.

To remain 'grounded' you need to cling to the facts you can 'prove'. Left, right, up, down, forward, backwards, plus, minus, light, dark, motion, stillness.

The list is relatively lengthy and that's just the 'obvious' stuff but that's how 'knowledge bases' are built, the things you're SURE about followed by the things you're 'pretty sure' of...followed by the things you heard and have no 'evidence' of...like Spirit in the Sky...or your imaginary friend Pookey who disappeared under somewhat mysterious circumstances when you were little.

Probably around the same time God failed to deliver/protect you from that bad thing that happened.

Poor Pookey, he wasn't a god but he did 'get' you (and when you were with Pookey, YOU had 'super powers!

Sorry, had to throw that in there [let it be known that Gegner never had an 'imaginary friend' and leave it at that.]

The same 'practice' also applies to rationality, starting with the hierarchy of needs and working towards our place in the larger community.

What is screwing with a large swath of humanity right now is a society that doesn't 'need' them so they don't 'fit in' anywhere...

We don't see it today [because somebody smartened up and took it off the table about twenty years ago] but there USED TO BE a deep concern that permeated the corporate culture regarding 'right-sizing'.

Having just enough workers to maximize profits is what 'right-sizing' was all about. Those 'left out' by 'right sizing' were cut loose, left to their own devices...which is monumentally STUPID as well as freakishly selfish.

But this was done by managers trained to follow the formula, one that was constantly being 'tweaked'...so it excluded more and more...er, do people stop being people when we label them 'workers'?

Well, let's return 'rationality' back to the discussion with something EVERYBODY KNEW (once upon a time.)

As Mr. Krugman points out, when politicians call for SACRIFICE, they are acknowledging that we can't have everything RIGHT NOW, you have to do certain things first in order for there to be enough to go around.

PART of that calculation is fear of contentment. The 'masters' among us fear people becoming 'content' with what they have so they stop 'striving' to survive.

Worse, it was thought that desperate people would be 'highly motivated'...if you ever wondered why NOBODY [in charge] EVER actually does anything to improve the lot in life of the average human...well, that's because STUPID believes you already 'have it too good', if things got any 'easier' for you, you'd stop working altogether!

[BUT THIS DOESN'T STOP NUMBNUTS FROM WORKING/DEVELOPING ROBOTS INTENDED TO REPLACE YOU, HIS CUSTOMER?] Can ANYBODY explain THAT? (rationally, like the case for doing this is anywhere near 'reasonable'.) Let me once again interject 'we're doing this WRONG!'

This is a perfect example of SACRIFICE [albeit idiotic sacrifice but sacrifice none the less!]

Doing one thing before doing something else is logical and in effect you do 'sacrifice' the instant gratification that most of us crave [but few realize]

But politicians are forever making it an 'either/or' proposition. We can't have a strong military AND safe drinking water! That's just CRAZY and NOBODY (in politics) can survive if they are 'weak on defense'...doesn't matter what letter follows your name, the people who pay for the 'dog & pony show' check that out first thing!

Clean water is a 'luxury', let the peasants figure it out.

Sound familiar?

Seriously, WTF Good Citizen?

On 7/5 I want to see a FULL STOP GLOBALLY!

Doesn't take 'everybody', just the truckers, pilots and engineers.

If you're sick to death of others deciding what makes you 'satisfied' then it's time to pull the plug on this shit show of 'More for Me' while THEY mutter "I can't help it if they're stupid" under their breath...and that's more of a 'prayer' than anything else because they KNOW we aren't stupid, we're just don't know what to do about it.

So on 7/5 let's show 'em what NOTHING looks like.

Thanks once again for letting me inside your [don't forget your friends] head(s)

Gegner

Closing the loop...

Greetings good citizen, one of the hallmarks of More for ME capitalism is the fact that the capitalist has no 'loyalty'...

Patriotism and capitalism are antithetical to one another, while capitalists like to 'Play' patriot and use threats to their (Me, Me, Me) business as threats to the nation, it's really a Me thing. It's who they are thinking about when they 'buy' politicians and bid them to make war on their behalf.

How ironic the first ones to tell you 'Politics are for idiots' are the warmongering capitalists!

We DON'T go to war because the neighbor's dog won't stop using your lawn for a toilet but we DO go to war to protect 'American Interests' anywhere on the planet besides America!

[This is what used to be referred to as 'International intrigues' that the founders were quite keen not to get involved with...but it's all part & parcel with capitalism, especially the 'More for Me' variety.

In a rather disturbing development, once globalization succeeded in eviscerating its customer base (a.k.a. YOU!) we have this development reported in today's NY Times. What's the 'take away' here you might ask?

Repatriating jobs is a useless pipe dream. Those of us old enough to have seen them go know they also shipped the equipment needed to do the job over with the jobs themselves, the ABILITY to perform those tasks no longer exists on these shores.

Well, this article tells us the SAME 'More for me' capitalists responsible for moving the jobs to China in the first place have no intention of bringing them back anytime soon...so if you can't survive selling houses to people that can't afford them, TOUGH! [Cops, like stockbrokers, have to be born into those jobs.] If you aren't a cop or a stockbroker, you're an accident!]

Remember All you are and All you'll ever be?

That's the 'joker' in the deck we seem incapable of discarding despite the desperate need to do so.

Um, FULL STOP:

I salute constant reader for at least trying to spread the word that we must change how we're doing things if we are to survive, partly because, based on the evidence, we don't DESERVE to survive and many would opine our demise can't come fast enough.

Um, one would think, since there is nothing 'secret' in these posts. It truly is a case of EVERYBODY KNOWS so WHY DO I KEEP DOING IT?

Because the other 'plain as the nose on your face' part is NOBODY has a clue how to FIX it!

When, again, the answers are right under that remarkably ordinary nose of yours.

Not to go charging off the reservation again but it appears the part of us programmed to 'accept' (sometimes reveling in) rough treatment is preventing us from altering our circumstances.

Perhaps the mapping of the genome will reveal who among us were 'programmed' to be 'overseers' so we could 'deal' with the menace these self-important types pose to the rest of society.

If the 'thinkers' among us fail to overcome the (obviously) low intelligence 'managers', the extinction order will be fulfilled.

Thinkers UNITE! 7/5 is our day!

Thanks for believing and spreading the word to the like-minded!

Which is to say thank you for letting me inside your friend's head!

Gegner