A few of my favorite things

Are the hills really alive?

Every so often I come across political items of interest, send them to myself, and then delete them for lack of anything more interesting to say than has already been said--but it's dawned on me lately that even if my aging mind has nothing clever to add, it doesn't mean their cleverness shouldn't be shared:

1. A Canadian writer notes that he never thought he'd live long enough (he's 70) to see a time when Canadians would be "...wealthier, healthier, better educated, happier, and more secure than the average American..." but he has.  The culprit?  The republican dominated Supreme Court, which has declared open season on workers, and given their corporate overlords victory after victory.  Thanks guys!  And another reason to denounce the nomination of Brett Kavaugh, who will fit right into the corporately controlled Roberts court.
2. A tweet from Tay Zonday pretty much sums up being poor in America--poverty does indeed charge interest.  And one hell of a lot of the interest is poor health--up to and including death.  One of these days enough Americans will wake up and realize that the true tragedy of poverty is that it only begets even more poverty.
3. And speaking of poverty...the great Paul Krugman had a piece a short while ago in which he argues that Trump and republicans War on the Poor isn't a bug of their philosophy but a feature.  And that it's driven by simple cruelty.  Judging from what I've seen of Trump, republican politicians across the country, and many Trumpskis, I think his analysis is spot on.
4. While I usually think Dana Milbank is another in a long line of putz pundits who have absolutely no clue about the real world implications of republican policies, I do think he hit the nail on the head in this piece--republicans may have gotten what they wanted with their tax cuts and Supreme court nominees, but the backlash is likely to be ugly.  You can only shortchange the will of the people for so long before they give you a big old boot to the head (aka, payback is a motherfucker...).

There...now I don't feel so bad....

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

There will be blood

For those of you believing some kind of Gandhiesque movement is coming to change the profligate power of corporations in America and return some sort of normalcy to the lives of America's working class, I offer you the following:

• AT &T this week threatened the internet service of millions of Americans if they didn't get their way in the upcoming decision by the FCC on net neutrality.  I would call their bullying Mafia-like, but that would be unfair to the Mafia--the Mafia doesn't run commercials ad nauseum on TV proclaiming how much their customers matter to them.
• Binding arbitration is right up there with net neutrality as being an issue most Americans don't know or understand but really should--as evidenced by this case in Arkansas where a nursing home in all likelihood killed a man and his family can't sue, because unbeknownst to them, they signed away their right to sue for wrongful death and turned it over to an arbitration panel.  Which is really a rigged game, since the arbitration panel is usually paid for by the company and is free to completely ignore any and all American law and make decisions based on any reasoning they desire.  Unsurprisingly, this  anti-consumer tactic has been upheld again and again by the Roberts Court, which is the best court the Chamber of Commerce can buy.

I know most people prefer the path of least resistance, but anybody who thinks any kind of significant change to the current economic abyss is coming without a whole lot of (preferrably wealthy people's) blood being shed is absolutely kidding themselves.

Peace,
emaycee

Blood simple

Though most Americans don't know it, the courts over the last thirty years have put a serious hamper (specifically, though not singlehandedly through, AT &T Mobility v. Concepcion and American Express v. Italian Colors) on our ability to seek recourse against corporations via the courts.  With a simple click of your mouse on one of those Terms of Service agreements, you often sign away your rights to sue, replacing it with an arbitrtation hearing, with the arbiter being chosen by the corporation.  Which is like playing a board game where you have to roll the dice, but your opponent gets to choose his numbers from the dice (also known as, heads I win, tails you lose).

David Atkins discussed this in a piece at Hullabaloo yesterday, and posited that one day we would have laws against it and wonder why we ever let ourselves suffer through it.

Myself, I wonder how long before someone realizes that the deck is stacked and starts blowing corporate offices up as a means of extralegal recourse.

My guess is not very fucking long.

Peace,
emaycee

Johnny Potatoes

Not really sure where the phrase came from, but my Dad used to say it to express something good (e.g., "Man, winning the lottery would be Johnny Potatoes"). In that spirit....

Man, we're going to miss Russ Feingold--if you read any piece this week, read this one in Think Progress (of if you've got a little more time, the whole shebang in The Nation). The "gilded age on steroids" would probably be the best description of the times we live in that I've heard. Plus one has to admire a man who even in defeat says, "Bring on 2012." Feingold doesn't just lament the corporatization of America, he encourages the reinvigoration of the Progressive movement and tells it to never stop screaming, "Fuck you, we've had enough!"

Still...the power of corporations has to give one a bit of trepidation--they have the money, they control the media, they have the jobs we need to E-A-T. As the Queen of Punk, Ms. Patti Smith, has noted, "People have the power." There is strength in numbers--and these are some pretty good numbers.

Progressives need to harness the mistrust and anger that a vast majority of Americans feel toward corporations right now to further their agenda--reducing poverty, creating good paying jobs, rebuilding infrastructure, improving education, and protecting ordinary Americans from corporate malfeasance. Difficult times call for difficult choices, and our choice now is to fight the corporatization of America or watch our standard of living continue to sink.

Me, I've already started shadow boxing....

Peace,
emaycee