vocesdelextremo

Pony Saturday: May The Best Pet Win!

2011-11-19T17:42:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to another…you know what? You already know by now!

Sorry. I just thought this new episode was, well, bleh! It wasn’t bad, just bland. But I’ll share with you the few parts I did enjoy. Without further ado, here are my thoughts on May The Best Pet Win!

• Opal coming out of the mutant pet’s mouth and scaring Rainbow Dash = Epic!
• Wasn’t thrilled by the song. It was good for the episode, but it was really forgettable. It didn’t have the ability to get stuck in your head like the other songs like “Winter Wrap Up,” “Cupcakes,” and “Art Of The Dress.”
• When the tortoise appear, it was pretty obvious he was going to be chosen at the end. Honestly, who didn’t see the ending by a mile away?
• Butterfly used Confuse Ray. Opal is confused.
• When Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” plays, you know shit just got real!
• Kind of ironic that none of the birds stopped to help Rainbow Dash when she didn’t stop to help any of them when they were stuck in the thorn bushes.
• Question: How did the turtle manage to catch up to Rainbow Dash in the gorge? Wouldn’t it have taken him longer to get there? (Obvious Answer: it’s a cartoon. If it was realistic, we would be here all day waiting for him!)
• Question: Where did the turtle get the bandages for Dash? (Better Question: How does a turtle administer First Aid?)
• Turtle helicopter? Nice! :D

A Las Barricadas

2011-11-19T03:19:00.000-08:00

2011-11-19T03:16:00.000-08:00

El problema es que quienes se postulan
para resolver el problema
son el problema.

Antonio Orihuela.

A las Barricadas version SKA

2011-11-19T03:12:00.000-08:00

ANTI-LIBERTARIANS CAN'T THINK - 24EvelJustin24

2011-11-18T13:27:00.000-08:00

“This entire libertarian philosophy is just so incredibly stupid and insipid. I mean, who would buy this shit?”

My fourth target in the series is 24EvelJustin24, who believes libertarians like Ron Paul are stupid for distrusting the federal government and not buying the “deregulation destroyed the economy” narrative.

VIDEOS FEATURED:

Kicking Libertarian Ass by 24EvelJustin24

LINKS:

Link #1: The amazingly accurate predictions of Ron Paul

Link #2: Corporate Profits Not Actually At Record High

Link #3: 12 Reasons Companies Outsource Operations Overseas

Link #4: Did Deregulation Cause the Financial Crisis?

Link #5: The Myth of Financial Deregulation

Link #6: What Keeps Us Safe?

Link #7: Economic Milton Friedman Describes Hong Kong as an Example of the Free Market System

Link #8: Bank of America scraps debit card fee after consumer backlash

Link #9: The Free Checking Restoration Act

Link #10: Who Caused the Economic Crisis?

Link #11: Is Deregulation to Blame?

Link #12: The CRA Scam and its Defenders

Link #13: Economic Freedom & Quality of Life

Link #14: Bush's Regulatory Kiss-Off

Link #15: Did Deregulated Derivatives Cause the Financial Crisis?

Link #16: Ten Thousand Commandments

Link #17: U.S. Corporations Suffer High Effective Tax Rates by International Standards

Link #18: No Corporate Welfare

OTHER MEDIA:

Arguing with Idiots Theme Song

Music by Kevin MacLeod

Occupy and the Tea Party

2011-11-18T13:00:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of angry peoplein this country, and although I generally try to avoid that emotion when makingdecisions, I can’t really say I blame most of them. Although I truly believeAmerica is a great country and will continue to be so for a long time, thereare, without a doubt, some things fundamentally wrong with the way things areright now.

The point of this post is not to gointo the details of what those things are, but a single example will help putthings in perspective. Today’s top hedge fund managers, such as John Paulson,are bringing home annual salaries in the billions of dollars. In 2010,Paulson’s $5 billion dollar salary set a new record. Now, compare thissingle-year salary to the single-year salary of the typical, working classAmerican family of $50,000. Given the roundness of both numbers, the math hereis a simple matter of moving the decimal point over a few spaces and we can seethat Paulson’s salary is 100,000 times that of the typical working class family.

But money is an abstract concept,really, and a difficult thing for people to value accurately. $2 to a child, ora Ugandan, has different value than it does to a middle-class American adult.And many people will say, when presented with this discrepancy, “Well, heearned it. It’s his money, he didn’t do anything illegal to get it, so what’sthe problem?” Point conceded (although some arguments could be made on the lastpoint, but that is outside the scope here.)

But money really isn’t the best wayto measure value; time is. Whereas a given amount of money can havesignificantly different valuation for different people, at different times, indifferent places, it is not hard to see that an hour’s worth of one person’stime is, in the abstract, equal in value to an hour of anyone else’s time. Solooking at our example above we can see that for a typical American family,let’s say of a self-employed carpenter and a school teacher, they would havehad to begin working 100,000 years ago, in the Middle Paleolithic, right aroundwhen modern humans began migrating out of Africa and displacing earlier homo species, if they wanted toaccumulate the wealth that Paulson acquired between the time the Yankees wonthe world series in 2009 and when the Giants won it in 2010. (Of course, if youare a Bible-literalist, this wouldn’t even be possible, since God wouldn’t getaround to creating the universe until about 10,000 years ago, or a fewmillennia after the Sumerians startedbrewing beer.)

How is it possible that thework-hour-value of someone who builds residences to keep people sheltered fromthe elements plus the work-hour-valueof someone who teachers other people’s children how to read and write is worthso much less, 100,000 times less, than the work-hour-value of someone who moveselectrons around in a computer? When you additionally consider that Paulson’swealth comes from short-selling subprime mortgages- i.e. he profits when thehouse that our middle-class family lives in goes into foreclosure because ourteacher has been laid off due to drastic state-spending cuts, and our carpentercan’t find work because the housing market is bunk- then the picture is evenbleaker.

It is easy, and tempting, for some,to look at this scenario, well, reality, really, and fall into the warm,comfortable trap of thinking that we should just have someone assign value to different tasks in oursociety. Sounds great, except time and time again it has proven to be anabsolute, unmitigated disaster. Communism is the ultimate fail. The only wayvalue can possibly be assigned is bythe market itself, because it is simply the height of human arrogance to assumethat any one person, or any group of people, could possibly have the wit andwisdom to perceive and predict the complex interactions of 7 billionindividuals. Only the market can do this.

But, as we saw above, the market canclearly become distorted. There are several reasons for this. But the major oneis that people don’t understand that there is a fundamental difference betweenmarkets in goods and services and markets in assets and capital. Ideologues onthe right look at how brainless bureaucratic interference in goods and servicesmarkets stifle innovation and wealth creation and wrongly assume that thisanalogy holds true in all markets andso they push for deregulation in allmarkets. Ideologues on the left see how deregulation in assets and capitalmarkets leads to endless cycles of boom (for some) and busts (for the rest) andwant to throw the baby out with the bath water and do away with capitalismaltogether. Both of these positions are moronic.

And right now the extreme voices ofboth the Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party movements are presenting this as aneither/ or choice. Now, before we go any further, I should make it clear that Ihave deep sympathies with some aspects of both of these movements. Every time Isee an “End the Fed” T-shirt at a Tea Party rally, or a “Bring backGlass-Steagal” placard at OWS, I feel optimistic about the future of ourcountry. But what truly dismays me, what makes me slightly less thanoptimistic, is that these two movements seem utterly incapable of recognizingthat they are two sides of the same coin.

I think an analogy would be helpfulhere. Imagine you live in a city with a fair amount of mafia or gang influenceand an equal amount of corruption in law-enforcement, the legal system andpolitics. Now let’s say it comes out that the mob has been getting away withall sorts of shady semi-legal dealings for the past few decades, racketeering,election-rigging, monopolizing local markets in goods and services… the usual.Now, both parties, the mob-bosses and their bought and sold political lackeys,are profiting handsomely at the expense of the hard-working citizens of thisonce great city. Who’s to blame?

If we were to apply the arguments ofTea Party and OWS to this scenario, each would yield a different answer.According to the Tea Party, the political establishment, and only the political establishment, wouldbe at fault. After all, if the mob can buy politicians, and get them to bendthe rules in their favor, why shouldn’t they? This is America, baby! This iscapitalism! On the other hand, if we listen to OWS, we should blame thisprimarily on the greedy mob for not having the self-restraint to stopthemselves from getting away with something that was all-too-easy to pull off.Our spineless, gutless politicians had little to do with it.

Now, I recognize that this is anover-simplification. There are many Tea Party supporters who recognize the roleof corporations and finance in producing our current economic situation. Andthere are, I think, an even larger number of Occupiers who recognize the extentto which they were sold out by the people they put in office, including, perhapsespecially, our current president. But what I am saying is that I think, on afundamental level, Tea Partiers tend to think that corporations and banks, leftentirely to their own devices, will do little but good, while Occupiers thinkthat if it weren’t for those same corporations, our politicians could get backto the business of governing justly and fairly.

It just ain’t so, folks. Money andpolitics go together like ham and cheese. They always have and they alwayswill. The market for political influence is as old and pervasive as the marketfor sex, and it is unlikely either will disappear anytime soon. History is thestory of the struggle of the few to dominate the many. And if we were to tallyup a score at the end of each year, since the beginning of recorded history inabout 3,000 BCE, it would be roughly 5,000-to-zip. Of course, there have beentimes where things were better than others. At the founding of this Republicpeople were hopeful, having shaken off the tyranny of the Church and the inheritedaristocracy, that a new day of justice and equality was dawning- whilemeanwhile hundreds of thousands of Africans were held in slavery. The middledecades of this century saw a historically unprecedented distribution ofwealth, the greatest realization of power the middle class has ever seen- andmeanwhile the ancestors of those slaves couldn’t be served at a lunch counterin much of the country.

There will always be battles tofight, injustices to correct. And the energy of both these movements is a potentand necessary thing. But we can’t lose sight of reality. There are somefundamental truths we must maintain a hold of.

One, we must recognize that justbecause something has been made “legal” that doesn’t make it right, or the waythings should be, or, to put that on more concrete footing, the way we, in ademocratic society, want things to be. If a group of pedophiles raised abillion dollars and lobbied Congress to make kiddie-porn legal, they wouldalmost surely succeed. (Do you really doubt that a billion dollars couldn’t buyyou anything in Washington?) Butwould that make kiddie-porn right? Ofcourse not. So just because banks canuse predatory lending practices, mislead their investors, and bet against theirown customers, it doesn’t mean they should,or that we, as citizens of the Republic, should accept that as the way thingsare, simply because they are still following the letter of the law (the letterof the law that they essentially wrote.)

Two, we must recognize our own rolein this. It is facile to say that “our society has become” lazy, indolent andcomplacent. No. People are lazy, indolent and complacent, whenthey lack the motivation to be otherwise. Let’s face it, folks, while it ispathetic to see a politician sell a multi-million dollar tax break for akickback of a few tens of thousands of dollars, we citizens have let it allhappen for a ticket to a 3D movie, the power to text-vote on American Karaoke, and a new Mrs. Fieldsat the mall (cause actually chewing achocolate-chip cookie is now too much work.) Just as most of us find itshocking that on our grandparent’s watch people of color still had to fight tobe served a grilled cheese at a white diner, our grandchildren will be shockedwhen they learn of the injustices that we tolerated on ours.

Third, and finally, we must recognize that no single “fix” is going tomake things right, forever and all time, or even a short while. Not neuteringthe federal government or reigning in greedy corporations. Getting nearly400,000,000 mammals to share a finite number of resources without killing eachother is a messy business. There probably isn’t a single other one (species ofmammal, I mean) that could even hope to pull it off. There will always becheats trying to game the system, and they will often end up with the reins ofpower. Those of us who want to live a simple, quiet, peaceful life, who have nointerest in benefiting from the pain and misery of others, must be constantlyvigilant, always ready to knock them off the cart.

As Occupy Wall Street and the TeaParty seem ready to do.

Now, if they just recognized theirenemy, our enemy, was one and thesame, thatwould be a force to be reckoned with.

And then those in power might realize that we're on to them this time around, and that we're not likely to keep playing a rigged game.

PP, SWEET PP

2011-11-18T03:07:00.000-08:00

Casi nueve millones de españoles han invadido un país,
lo han destruido,
matado a doscientos mil civiles,
sembrado de uranio empobrecido,
alentado una guerra civil,
violado,
asesinado,
y torturado.

Sus votos
fueron las armas de destrucción masiva.

Su colaboración con banda armada
no será investigada.

Son buenos padres, amables vecinos,
cumplidores ciudadanos
que recogen del suelo la mierda de sus perros.

Sus manos estarán limpias, pero sus conciencias
reposan en la confortable seguridad de nuestro mundo
manchadas de sangre.

Antonio Orihuela. Todo el mundo está en otro lugar. Ed. Baile del sol, 2011.

SILVIO RODRIGUEZ EN BUSCA DE UN SUEÑO

2011-11-18T03:02:00.000-08:00

Rape Doesn’t Exist?!

2011-11-17T11:11:00.000-08:00

As anyone who follows my blog can tell, I don’t care for feminists. They have a tendency to see sexism where none exists, like how advertisements “objectify” women in order to allegedly keep them submissive to the patriarchy. Focusing on such menial issues tends to distract from real sexism.

For example, following the suicide of an 18-year-old girl who had chronicled on Twitter the sexual abuse she endured from her father, some sleazy Moron—excuse me, Mormon—blogger Michael Crook wrote the following about her on his blog:

There are those who think she’s a victim. Not so!

I don’t care what did or did not happen to her. First and foremost, I don’t believe rape exists. When there are incidents that are classified as “rape,” or names that are similar, what usually ends up happening is that the “victim” tends to “forget” to mention immodesty, flirty actions, or other conduct on their part that contributed to the matter. A woman who dresses immodestly must accept accountability for her choice of attire.

If, in fact, this girl was being molested or forced into prostitution as the media outlets say her tweets claimed, then it was her fault that it happened, and continued to happen.

“I don’t believe rape exists”?

Just let that sentiment sink in for a minute, then wipe the vomit away from your computer screen when you’re done.

Yes, apparently, rape doesn’t exist because all accounts of rape are really the woman’s fault for dressing or acting like a slut, and therefore, she deserves it.

I don’t care what religion you subscribe to, that’s just revolting!

Yes, I do believe that women should take precautions to protect themselves by avoiding dangerous situations, like dressing promiscuously to a bar, or accepting a drink from a stranger, or walking home late at night unescorted—but I would never have the audacity to say that they deserve what happens to them if they don’t take such caution.

But oh wait, IT GET EFFING WORSE!

When Crook said he doesn’t believe in rape, he links to this post where he says this:

However, I also believe that...a woman should fight to the death defending her virtue, if in fact she does not consent to the sexual contact. If she doesn't do so, then I would call her motives into question.

Oh yes. You heard that right. If a woman doesn’t fight back, she’s obviously lying about her rape. If she had really been raped, she would have put up a fight and even died trying to prevent it. If she didn’t, then it’s all her fault!

And feminists complain that chivalry is sexist? Give me a break!

What makes this even worse is that Crook tries to sidestep his own tripe by claiming that it’s only his opinion. Yes, Crook, it is, and you’re entitled to it. As my blog’s name suggests, I believe everyone is entitled to free speech in order to express their opinion. So Crook has every right to say women deserve to be raped. But since free speech goes both way, I have every right to respond by saying that Crook is a sexist, chauvinistic, misogynistic pig who should castrate himself lest his genes contaminate the human gene pool!

Now if you excuse me, I’m going to watch Pinkie Pie sing Caramelldansen until I forget this blog post ever existed.

CARTA DE AJUSTE

2011-11-17T09:30:00.000-08:00

El mundo

una selva,
la escuela, un desastre,
los sujetos, un caos.

El multiculturalismo,

un peruano vestido de sioux tocando una guitarra eléctrica,
la razón, un vertedero abandonado a las interpretaciones,
la identidad, un tío vestido de flamenco
conduciendo un 4x4 en el Rocío.

La democracia, un cartel de Rajoy
cada vez más alto, cada vez más lejos,
cada vez más rasos los mensajes,
cada vez más extraterrestres circulando por la izquierda.

Los hogares vacíos de vidas y afectos
pero invadidos por la TV y la informática.

Los padres virtuales de jornadas extenuantes de once horas
con hijos sobreexplotados con las extraescolares
y abuelos arrumbados, aislados,
dopados por médicos de familia,
Juan y Medio y Agustín Bravo.

El fanatismo ultra católico del brazo del racismo
y el autoritarismo tomando las calles para limpiar España
de débiles y afeminados.

El terrorismo político, social y laboral.

La desinformación, la incapacidad para percibir y pensar
al margen del adoctrinamiento y la manipulación.

Al sur los consumidos,
al norte los consumidores.

Al norte, perdidos. Al sur,
reventados.

En el reino de la productividad y la esclavitud

el viento de la revolución
ya inimaginable.

Antonio Orihuela. Todo el mundo está en otro lugar. Ed. Baile del Sol. 2011.

Think Progress Spins Story About Welfare Fraud

2011-11-16T20:24:00.000-08:00

With a name like “Think Progress,” you’re sure to find news without bias or spin, right?

Think Progress recently posted a story with the following headline: “Mississippi Woman Receives Three Year Prison Sentence For Feeding Her Family.” The story, however, tells how the woman was convicted for lying on her benefits application in order to receive over $4 thousand in food stamps. She had previously been convicted of four felonies and one misdemeanor, which would have made her ineligible to receive food stamps. And yes, she did claim to have lied in order to help her family, but the fact still remains that she had been convicted of welfare fraud, thus making the story and its headline very misleading. Worse, the story compares the woman’s three-year prison sentence to a two-year sentence of a man who stole $3 million in mortgage fraud.

Should the woman have received such a harsh sentence? Probably not. A lesser sentence would have sufficed, though she was probably given the harsher sentence because of her previous crimes, all which were drug-related—thus making her defense of “feeding her family” rather dubious (she may have been using the money for drugs).

Should she have been given a harsher sentence than the man who swindled $3 million in mortgage fraud? Hell no! The punishment should fit the crime. $4 thousand in food stamps should receive a lesser punishment than $3 million in mortgage fraud, though both sentences were passed in different courts—albeit in the same state.

But that’s my opinion. I want to know what you all think: Were the two sentences unfair? What about the Think Progress story? Let me know in the comments below.

BOTÉMOSLOS

2011-11-16T12:21:00.000-08:00

Aunque la mona se vista de seda…

Mientras ellos vayan de la mano
nosotros iremos de culo.

ANTI-LIBERTARIANS CAN’T THINK - franks2732

2011-11-15T14:40:00.000-08:00

“Your ideology is the most disgusting and evil piece of shit put on this world.…Libertarians and anarcho-capitalists, this diseased neoconservative mind, is the reason why half the f***ing Western world, the English-speaking Western world, is f***ed!”

My third target is franks2732 who moans and complains about how mean and cruel libertarians and their ideology are.

VIDEOS FEATURED:

Anti Libertarian Rant by franks2732

Fucktard Of The Week: Kassiedill2 by Morrakiu

OTHER MEDIA:

Arguing with Idiots Theme Song

Music by Kevin MacLeod

AL VUELO

2011-11-15T10:47:00.000-08:00

Yorgos Papandreu recibe la ovación de sus colegas de la
Internacional Socialista que le premian por haber conseguido la aprobación por el
Parlamento griego de un plan que traerá sufrimientos y miseria a su pueblo, en, dicen,
treinta años de recesión, pero habrá salvado las cuentas de resultados de los bancos ale-
manes y franceses que compraron deuda griega para hacer negocios; el primer dogma
de la economía política europea es garantizar los beneficios de las finanzas.
Entre quienes crearon falsas expectativas de negocios en Grecia, manipulando las
cuentas públicas, ocupa un lugar destacado Goldman Sachs, uno de los bancos salvados
de la bancarrota en 2008 gracias a miles de millones de dólares de fondos públicos y en
cuyo historial reciente figura un acusación de la Comisión Nacional del Mercado de
Valores de EE UU por fraude en el escándalo de las hipotecas subprime. Ni que decir
tiene que eso no es obstáculo para que siga operando y obteniendo cuantiosos beneficios
en medio mundo.
Un alto ejecutivo de Goldman Sachs, Mario Draghi, acaba de ser nombrado nuevo
presidente del Banco Central Europeo. En el curriculum de Draghi figura, tras su paso
por Goldman Sachs, el cargo de gobernador del Banco de Italia, uno de los puestos cen-
trales del entramado de la política de los negocios de Berlusconi.
¿En qué se diferencian política y moralmente Papandreu y Draghi? En nada importante.
Son por encima de todo cómplices. La política dominante en la Unión Europea no puede
entenderse sin la complicidad entre lo que uno y otro representan.

M.R. Al Vuelo. Viento Sur. nº 117. Julio 2011.

Feminazi: Penn State Proves All Men Are Rapists!

2011-11-14T12:33:00.000-08:00

When you use reddit like I do as a source for news, you tend to run across the craziest stories and news articles, which is how I encountered this gem. Only feminists would be sleazy enough to spin a story like the Penn State incident to push their conspiracy theories about the “patriarchy” and “rape culture.”

Now is the time to point out that feminists have been describing this problem for decades, and while it’s always going to be a shock on some level to see how much social support rapists and those who cover up for them get, it’s entirely predictable if you’ve been paying attention. In fact, excuse-making for sexual harassment, intimidation, and assault is so common that feminists created a phrase to describe it: rape culture. For once when it comes to feminist terminology, Wikipedia is accurate, so I’ll refer to its definition.

Rape culture is a term which originated in women's studies and feminist theory, and describes a culture in which rape and sexual violence against women are common and in which prevalent attitudes, norms, practices, and media all condone, normalize, excuse, or tolerate sexual violence against women. Examples of behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming, sexual objectification and rape apologism.

The only part which I would correct is to suggest that it’s not just rape and sexual violence against women that is excused in a rape culture. As the Penn State situation demonstrates---and as did the Catholic Church scandal before it and as does the ongoing inability of our society to take prison rape seriously---rape of men and children is also papered over, blamed on victims, or even condoned in our society. The form rape culture takes is tweaked slightly depending on the victim, of course. You don’t see young boys being told they brought this on themselves by dressing sexy, as female victims of various ages generally hear, but the general idea is still there. When it comes to rape, much of society thinks that the problem isn’t that rapists rape. They believe the problem is those who try to stop rape. When a rapist is outed, far too many people in our society think the person to blame for the chaos that ensues is not the person who started it all by raping, but those who blew the whistle. Even and especially when it’s the victims who blow the whistle.

Rape culture? Good grief! Someone should inform the feminists that reported rapes against women in the United States have been in decline over the past 20 years.

Fortunatley, it seems that many redditors see this article for the bullpucky it is, as the following comments indicate:

• Rape culture? Seriously? What a bunch of trash!

It's more the bystander effect combined with people wanting to keep their job.

The entire concept of a 'rape culture' because of one man who did nasty things while 15 people didn't act out of a population of ~65,000 students/faculty/etc is sensationalism at its worst.

• I haven't heard any condemnation of the victims. The closest to "rape culture" so far is the Penn State riot over the firing of Joe Paterno, as well as the media's general unwillingness to thoroughly condemn Joe for his part in the scandal. The article seems to suggest that there is an active campaign by society to suppress what has happened. Quite frankly I don't see it.

• Typical feminist theory. Let's make this about violence against women even though the gender in question is male here. This is about sports and extreme worship of their program, not about a worship of sexual violence.

• Sorry, but the failure on the part of the people at Penn State was not due to a "Rape Culture" or thinking there was anything acceptable about a 60 year old man fucking a ten year old boy in the ass; but about money and keeping an untarnished image. They were scared of what exactly has happened, happening. They're going to pay dearly for this in the two areas that are most important to them.

Greed and ego overcame morality.

• I'd love to know in what sort of twisted universe feminists can somehow take credit for the coming out of male war rape victims (which incidentally outnumber women raped in war).

Need I remind feminists that for the better part of the 20th century they were probably the most aggressive agitators against male gay rights after the religious organisations?

Bachmann: America Should Be More Like China!

2011-11-14T11:58:00.000-08:00

From the woman who claimed that Aladdin promoted witchcraft, that Lion King promoted homosexuality, and that carbon dioxide wasn’t a dangerous gas, comes one of the most retarded suggestions ever: America should be more like China!

Why is this woman a Republican presidential candidate again?

Michele Bachmann made a curious suggestion during Saturday night's Republican debate.

Fielding a question about which social programs she would cut if president, the Minnesota Congresswoman said that China provided a good example of a society without a social safety net. The fact that China's government is resolutely socialist appeared to be lost on her.

Bachmann said that Lyndon Johnson's Great Society has "not worked, and it's put us into the modern welfare state...If you look at China, they don't have food stamps."

She continued, "They save for their own retirement security, they don't have AFDC (Aid to Families With Dependent Children), they don't have the modern welfare state, and China's growing...and so what I would do is look at the programs that LBJ gave us, with the Great Society, and they'd be gone."

Daily Kos Speaks Out Against Black Bloc Anarchists

2011-11-14T11:48:00.000-08:00

While I don’t believe in anarchy, I do respect the opinions of anarchists like Stefan Molyneux, as they make cogent arguments against the state (though I disagree with their conclusions). I realize there’s a major difference between anarchists who make arguments against the state and “anarchists” who just want to smash things up, and as such, the black bloc anarchists at the Occupy movement do not represent the whole of anarchists and anarchy.

With that said, I can’t believe I’m sharing a Daily Kos blog post defending the Occupy movement:

To the black bloc "Anarchists", I would like you to listen closely to the gentleman in this video at the 3:17 mark . . . he has something important to say . .

You can see people in this video trying to prevent the destruction of property, and my hat goes off to them.

And I use quotation marks on the word Anarchist for a reason, because real Anarchists believe in breaking up corrupt power structures, not smashing windows. Any mindless clown with a brick can smash a window, that doesn't make you an anarchist, just a vandal. Though I am NOT an anarchist myself, the anarchists I have met do NOT endorse this idiotic smashing of property, and nor does Occupy Wall Street. I denounce this type of bullshit. It has NO PLACE in our peaceful movement.

To the cowards in masks who just want to break shit, you aren't helping at all, in fact, you are making things worse for EVERYONE. I have no idea what you have to offer anyone, you basically have nothing positive to add to the conversation we'd like to have. In short, F U, because your idiotic acts of violence and senseless damage of property is certainly going to be used to smear every peaceful person in the Occupy Wall Street movement, so not only are you not adding anything positive, the only thing you are adding is negative.

ANTONIO ORIHUELA CANTÓ PARA EL 15-M

2011-11-13T11:19:00.000-08:00

La voz de Antonio Orihuela, que sonaba a tiempo nuevo. A los oidos castigados con la propaganda diaria, se zarandeaban en las palabras que su poesía convertían en musicalidad inteligente, espabilaban las entendederas dormidas de los presentes. Acompañado por Augusto Yagüe, músico autodicata que demostraba instrumento tras instrumento que las pasiones de un ser humano no tienen límites. Y que la sensibilidad no la pueden enseñar en las academias y los libros. Que la llevamos en nostr.s mism.s y que tan sólo tenemos que prestarles atención y tenacidad.

Al principio, nosotr.s (el público), avergonzado, frío, ausente, desencajado... aburguesado. Empezamos a dudar de nuestra “condición”. Teníamos a un poeta y un músico delante nuestra, que disparaban verdades bien dichas, que la música untaba en suaves ondulaciones hasta nuestros oidos, estos cada vez más receptivos.

La pasión, el calor, las miradas, los niños que asombrados dejaron de no prestar atención a esos monstruos raros, que son los adultos, se inmovilizaban con la mirada despierta y atenta de quién sabe otorgar autoridad a lo auténtico.

El poeta y el músico, el músico y el poeta. Delante el público que impaciente empujaba a ambos a recitar y recitar, tocar y tocar la música que tan extrañas parecían y tan claras se nos presentaban.

La política se convirtió en otra “cosa” que si comprendíamos. Y no eso que llaman partido político, sufragio universal o parlamentarismo. Se oía el dolor de nuestros problemas diarios, se oía el poder que tenemos y no utilizamos. Se oía la palabra exacta, en el tiempo oportuno para un presente que no teníamos. Porque nos engañan con un futuro, que es muerte, y los poderosos saben, que así, no lo conquistaremos.

El público se levantaba, aplaudía, se emocionaba. El poeta con su sonrisa, nos descubría que de ella brotaba eso que desconocemos; la Alegría.

Estaba alegre, Agusto acompañaba asombrado por la facilidad de tocar música con un poeta. Descubriendo que la poesía es para decirla a gritos, para cantarla entre hermanos, en fraternidad. Y que eso de que la poesía es algo íntimo, que no debe decir nada que moleste al poderoso, que es blando, cursi y de minorías Yagüe entendía que no era cierto. Una vez más nos habían engañado. Lo que sucede es que no quieren que la gente diga la palabra exacta, quieren prosas, prosas y más prosas. Palabras vacías que no digan nada, pero que vuelvan a repetirse sin pausa, sin medirlas siquiera.

Esa métrica que reclamamos los que deseamos un presente digno. Esa justa medida de las cosas que no la vemos hoy ni proclamada siquiera. Ese poeta y ese músico juntos, levantando al público combativo... (En: www.municipiolibre.org)

El peligro de la poesía, sobre todo para los poetas, es el riesgo de perderse en ella. Cuando la causa que persigue es tan digna y esencial, la visión última de un mundo libre con individuos libres y justos es tan lícita y se ve tan vilipendiada, que dan ganas de colgarse del sueño ya resuelto, más que de empezar a caminar o batallar para restablecerlo. No es este el caso, de quien este miércoles recitó, a petición del 15M de Mérida, para todo aquel que quiso escucharle.

Los poemas de Antonio Orihuela son conciencia, sentimiento, lucha... Una lucha como la de tantas y cada vez más personas, a la que Antonio ha querido dar la fuerza transcendental de la poesía donde arden ideales y emociones para convertirse en llama eterna, escapando a los derribos de lo material y situándolas en el plano donde las causas justas se hacen invencibles. En su creatividad Libre, intensa y espléndida, va el esfuerzo y el desgaste del hombre al servicio de lo hermoso de una causa comprometida con la libertad del individuo para fortalecerla, para hacerla crecer, para extenderla y despertar a los sonámbulos. Su poesía refresca pereza, argumenta la trama, recuerda el derecho y desenmascara culpables. Escribe para todas y para él mismo, porque todas somos colegas en continúo aprendizaje, de este oficio común que es la vida.

Gracias pues, Antonio, por tu aportación al movimiento 15M.

www.municipiolibre.org y M. Ranz Alonso. Crónica de un recital. Versos y Palabras para acompañar al movimiento 15-M. Mérida, 8 de noviembre de 2011.
Fotografía de Juan Sánchez Amorós.

Algunos de los poemas recitados de su libro "Todo el mundo está en otro lugar"

DEMOCRACIA VIGILADA

Un atentado llevó a Adolfo Suárez al poder.

Un atentado llevó a Felipe González al poder.

Un atentado llevó a José María Aznar al poder.

Un atentado llevó a José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero al poder.

Mientras tengan dinamita,

¿por qué van a fiarse de las urnas?

##########################

LA EXPLOSIÓN

De entre toda la palabrería

de autoconsumo pseudorrevolucionario,

me molesta, sobre todo,

cuando me dicen que soy una subjetividad.

No sé qué cojones de pasividad

hay en ese término,

no lo entiendo,

prefiero ser una intensidad,

una pasión,

un goce que estalla

o que podría estallar,

volver a comenzar,

dejar la resistencia pasiva,

el exilio interior,

la supervivencia…

podría volver a comenzar lo inaudito,

lo excepcional,

lo que nunca ocurrió podría llegar

en el ahora

cuando la sociedad

no es más que un argumento

con que justifican sus desmanes

los que dicen representarla,

en el ahora

cuando el movimiento obrero

no es más que un instrumento del Estado

para la desactivación de los trabajadores,

ahora

que la violencia estatal

se ha vuelto preventiva,

ahora

que la magistratura y la policía

hablan del derecho de injerencia

y los médicos de psiquiatrización

y medicamentosis social.

Nuestro tiempo es el ahora:

estallar

aquí

ahora

en donde estamos,

en el nombre de un vivir

que no tiene nombre

sino común presencia

de su cumplimiento,

aquí,

ahora,

cuando somos presencia,

desde abajo,

en lo local de esta globalización acabada,

estallar

anónimos, cualquieras, indistintos,

estallar en archipiélagos, constelaciones, colectivos,

cuerpos y cuerpos en acelerada e invisible circulación

de afectos conspirativos,

de ternura crítica que celebra

la huelga humana,

el fin del trabajo alienado,

el fin de las víctimas,

el fin de la guerra que nos hace

el Capital.

Vamos, volar no es imposible,

aquí,

ahora

estalla.

###############

¿CUÁNTO VALE EL TRABAJO?

Los cuidados recibidos durante el embarazo,

el amor de los padres,

la alimentación, el calzado, los vestidos,

la educación y especialización del trabajador.

Todas estas cosas, cuando entra uno en un trabajo,

¿cómo se miden?

¿van incluidas en el sueldo?

¿Entrarán en la próxima Reforma Laboral?

########################

SER DE IZQUIERDAS QUEMA

Es absurdo votar para que no venga el lobo

cuando lo único que viene es otra especie de lobo

que es malo porque este no es peor lobo

que el que viene.

##############

CAPITALISMO

Ganamos una carrera

y el premio es otra carrera.

Tenemos que salir de aquí.

#######

ESTADO DE ALARMA

Y ya puestos a considerar una violación de los derechos de los ciudadanos

el perder un fin de semana de vacaciones

y sacar el ejército para asegurar nuestros derechos constitucionales

y defender la libertad de movimiento de la gente.

¿Saldrá el ejército a defender nuestro derecho a una vivienda digna?

¿Impedirá también el ejército la destrucción del digno empleo,

el recorte de ayudas sociales,

el abaratamiento del despido,

la subida de los años de cotización

o los desahucios por impago?

¿Le seguirán

la ocupación de las sucursales bancarias?

¿Serán llevados los banqueros a punta de pistola

hasta sus bancos para que repartan créditos?

¿Irán a prisión?

¿Recibiremos indemnizaciones millonarias todos los afectados?

¿Los lincharan los medios de comunicación

mientras retransmiten hasta la extenuación

el dolor de tanta gente engañada, humillada, desahuciada,

parada y arruinada?

¿Adivinas la respuesta,

o todavía estás aplaudiendo a los milicos

en el aeropuerto?

############

PP, SWEET PP

Casi nueve millones de españoles han invadido un país,

lo han destruido,

matado a doscientos mil civiles,

sembrado de uranio empobrecido,

alentado una guerra civil,

violado,

asesinado,

y torturado.

Sus votos

fueron las armas de destrucción masiva.

Su colaboración con banda armada

no será investigada.

Son buenos padres, amables vecinos,

cumplidores ciudadanos

que recogen del suelo la mierda de sus perros.

Sus manos estarán limpias, pero sus conciencias

reposan en la confortable seguridad de nuestro mundo

manchadas de sangre.

######################

POLÍTICOS

El problema es que quienes se postulan

para resolver el problema

son el problema.

UNIÓN, PROGRESO Y DEMOCRACIA

2011-11-13T07:31:00.000-08:00

Aquí los gatos viven de puta madre
Están gordos
De ello se encarga un tipo que es gestor de la estación

El mismo que el otro día fue denunciado
Por dedicar insultos racistas a un usuario del tren

El mismo que le largó una vez a una camarera lesbiana
Que lo que ella necesita es una buena polla

El mismo que acosa a chicas que podrían ser sus hijas
Y luego dice que es que van provocando

El mismo que le hace moobing al vigilante
Porque no maltrata a quienes el odia

El mismo que se marchó del PP
Porque de nada le sirvieron 20 años de lamer culos para trepar

El mismo que se presentó a alcalde de Manacor
En las pasadas elecciones municipales por UPyD

Me pregunto si
Las 143 personas que lo han votado
También serán amantes de los gatos.

poema de Patricio Rascón

Russian Red - Gone Play On

2011-11-12T17:35:00.000-08:00

This Week In Review (11/13/2011)

2011-11-12T16:26:00.000-08:00

• Democrats won key elections in Ohio, Maine, Mississippi, and Arizona. I would say this was a big loss for the Republicans, but screw it: they brought this upon themselves! When they gained a majority in the House of Representatives last year, they promised they were going to create jobs. It’s been one year. How many jobs have they created? Zero! Zip! Zilch! Instead, they have been focusing on menial social issues like abortion. Don’t get me wrong, pushing back abortion is an important issue, but during harsh economic times, fixing the economy and creating jobs should be more important—especially when it’s the platform you ran on! As far as the economy goes, the most Republicans have done were make cuts to NPR and Planned Parenthood—not even a fraction of one percent of our budget (compared to defense spending, which makes up a lion’s share of 20%)! Let’s face it: the Republicans are the party of Epic Fail! They fail at creating jobs, they fail at fixing the economy, they fail at limiting the federal government, they fail at fiscal responsibility, and the just flat-out fail at being conservative. Let us pray that they’re replaced by the Libertarian Party as the country’s right-wing party.
• Rick Perry forgot the third government agency he wanted to eliminate during the GOP Debate Wednesday. “It’s three agencies of government when I get there that are gone: Commerce, Education, and the, um, uh, what’s the third one?” Good grief! I want to say that Perry is just like Bush, but at this point, that would be an insult—to Bush! Perry is like him, only without the integrity or the intelligence—or rather, what little Bush has in the first place!
• Former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky was arrested and charged with sexually-abusing eight boys over a 15-year period. At this point, I don’t know which is worse: the coach raping a boy in the locker room showers, the assistant coach Mike McQuery witnessing the rape but not reporting it, or the thousands of students rioting because their beloved coach was fired and arrested. Don’t get me wrong: the coach raping the young boy is obviously worse, but the other two were no better.
• Bill Clinton released his new book Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy. Democrats and liberals love to brag about how the economy was all sunshine and lollipops under Clinton. But as with other liberal legends like FDR and his “New Deal” or LBG and his “Great Society,” Clinton and his “Golden Years” is just that: a legend—more specifically, a myth!
• Congressman Joe Walsh was caught on camera yelling at a constituent. During one of his “Cup Of Joe With Joe” events, Walsh was confronted by a woman who asked him about the banks’ responsibility for the economic crisis, to which he responded in a heated tirade. “It’s not the private marketplace that created this mess! What created this mess is your government which has demanded for years that everyone be in a home, and we have made it as easy as possible for people to be in homes. All the marketplace does is respond to what the government does. The government sets the rules. Don’t blame banks and don’t blame the marketplace for the mess we’re in right now. And I’m tired of hearing that crap!” As am I! Look, I think Joe was uncouth and uncivil in his response (and as a politician, that’s no good), but in the end, he was absolutely 100% right!
• A government mandate requiring tobacco companies to post graphic warning labels on their products was blocked by a federal judge. This comes as a sigh of relief, considering that the past week has not been a good one for common sense within our government—what with the US Court of Appeals declaring it constitutional for the federal government to force Americans to buy health insurance, the Senate striking down an attempt to repeal the Orwellian Net Neutrality, and the Supreme Court deliberating whether or not police need a warrant to slap a tracking device onto a vehicle. But seriously, did anyone really believe that those ridiculous graphic warnings would have deterred people from smoking? Somehow, I don’t even think the people pushing for the warning labels believed that!
• Grand Canyon National Park scraped its plans to ban the sale of plastic water bottles. As with the graphic tobacco warnings, did anyone honestly believe that this ban would have worked? Even if they banned the sale of bottled beverages at the park, what’s to prevent tourists from bringing their own? Either way, litter is still being created. On a side note, this ban came immediately after park officials had spoken with officials from Coca-Cola—a major donor to the park. Both parties deny that their conversation influenced the blocking of the ban.
• Michelle Bachmann and Herman Cain said they would reinstate waterboarding during the GOP Debate Saturday. New Rule: Politicians like Bachmann and Cain who think waterboarding is not torture should volunteer to be waterboarded themselves, and then decide afterwards whether or not it’s torture. Pretty sure they would be singing a different tune.
• Justin Bieber denies being the father of a 20-year-old woman’s baby. Is he or is he not the baby daddy of Mariah Yeater? Better question: Oh my God! Who the hell cares?

Pony Saturday: The Cutie Pox

2011-11-12T16:20:00.000-08:00

You know what day it is? That’s right: Pony Saturday! And today, I’ll be posting my thoughts on today’s newest episode: The Cutie Pox.

• Question: How can ponies bowl if they don’t have any fingers? Then again, how can ponies do anything without fingers?
• Bowling Dolls = Charlie’s Angels! :D
• And any bowling episode isn’t complete without a Big Lebowski reference. Did you catch it? (It was right when Scootaloo kicked her bowling ball all over the place, and it zips by three familiar faces—or at least three familiar faces in pony form.)
• One of the ponies in the bowling alley looks a lot like Rarity’s mom from the last episode.
• Apple Bloom bites into her bowling ball. Um, bleh!
• I believe this is the fourth episode to feature Zecora—one of my favorite ponies who isn’t one of the main characters.
• Did anyone else think of “All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth” while listening to Apple Bloom with a chipped tooth saying she wanted her cutie mark now?
• Yes, Zecora, just leave Apple Bloom alone with the flower you told her grants one’s desires after she told you how desperately she wanted a cutie mark.
• Nice to see another appearance from Twist, not so much Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon.
• Apparently, class can be dismissed if someone has a really special talent like loop-de-hooping.
• Yay! Apple Bloom turned into Miles “Tails” Prowler!
• Twilight’s mane transformed into Rarity’s with Apple Bloom’s loop-de-hoop! (And I guess Spike must like Rarity for her hair, since he was quick to become infatuated with Twilight.)
• Apparently, Apple Bloom knew what Apple Jack wanted her to do with the pie and plates she threw at her.
• Seems like we’re seeing more of Granny Smith in this season.
• Question: Why was Apple Bloom suddenly unable to control herself once she received her third cutie mark? See was able to control herself with the first two. Do your talents suddenly become uncontrollable at three?
• LOL! One of the diseases mentioned in Twilight’s book is “The Trots”!
• Question: Since Equestria is obviously in an alternate universe with geography unlike our own, is there seriously a French language, let alone a France, in that universe?
• Better Question: How will they translate that scene into French? She’s obviously not going to be speaking French!
• Continuity Error: Apple Bloom and Apple Jack visited Twilght Sparkle during the night, then they decide go to Zecora—in the day?
• Nice to see Lily, Daisy, and Roseluck reappear in this episode. (The horror! The horror!)
• Apple Bloom becomes Taz! :D
• Question: If the Seeds of Truth grow when someone tells the truth, shouldn’t they have grown when Pinkie Pie spilled the beans about eating Mrs. Cake’s corncakes? (Obvious Answer: Because then we wouldn’t have the moral of our story from Apple Bloom).
• Question: Did Zecora really disappear, or did she simply leave while no one was looking?
• And Apple Bloom got to write to Princess Celestia.

RECITAL POÉTICO/MUSICAL

2011-11-11T14:10:00.000-08:00

Esta semana hemos tenido la oportunidad de disfrutar en Mérida de dos acontecimientos culturales de primer nivel, uno poético y otro poético/musical, el primero se celebró en el Parador Nacional y fue ofrecido por el poeta Eladio Orta, que nos embelesó con su poesía directa, desenfadada y critica.

Eladio Orta.

lo lograste
me dice
premios literarios
felicitaciones de delegados culturales
antologías varias
críticas en los suplementos
culturales más influyentes
presunta joven novia

…

mamón rozas el poder
te has convertido en el arquetipo
de gilipollas literario

(Leche de Camello)

hasta ahora mis libros
han sido pequeñas bromas

y a partir de ahora
mis libros van a seguir
siendo pequeñas bromas

(+ De Poemas Tontos)
no elegí nacer en la sal y la arena
la retama y el fango

pero si nací en la sal y la arena
en la retama y el fango

debo defender la sal y la arena
las retamas y el fango

(Antisonetos)

2011-11-11T14:01:00.000-08:00

En el segundo acto intervinieron el poeta Antonio Orihuela y el cantautor Nacho Dueñas, ambos nos ofrecieron un recital poético/musical colmado de poesía social, poesía de la buena y canciones llanas, canciones del pueblo y para el pueblo.

Antonio Orihuela:

INCONSCIENCIA

En la hoguera del mundo
nos lavamos las manos con gasolina,
después, para que se nos calienten,
las acercamos al fuego.

(De aserrando corazones…)

POLÍTICOS

El problema es quienes se postulan
para resolver el problema
son el problema.

(De Todo el mundo está en otro lugar)

La poesía es un incendio,
por eso no da para vivir
da para arder,

no escribas,
arde en ella.

(De Todo el mundo está en otro lugar)

CAMPAÑA TSUNAMI SOLIDARIO (¿?)

Si todos estamos
con el agua al cuello
y llega un tsunami

SE SALVAN…

Los bancos que abrieron cuentas solidarias
que nadie sabe nunca
cuándo ni por dónde se cierran.

Ya digo, sí, todos estamos con el agua al cuello,
pero cada vez que llega el tsunami

SE SALVAN

los mismos
de siempre.

(De cómo ser un buen ciudadano…)

Nintendo GameCube Commercials Montage

2011-11-11T13:22:00.000-08:00

I love it whenever a new video game console is released, especially with the advertising behind it. I love to see how the new consoles market themselves, and somehow, they always seem to inspire you to jump out of your seat and rush to the nearest Wal-Mart in order to buy one.

I especially love watching old-school video game commercials. Though the games and systems themselves are outdated, the commercials still make them seem brand new and innovative.

In honor of the Nintendo GameCube’s tenth anniversary, the following montage of GameCube commercials was created by user CyberWolf087. Man, I remember these commercials well!

RECITAL POÉTICO/MUSICAL

2011-11-11T12:39:00.000-08:00

Russian Red - No Past Land (Sub Español)

2011-11-11T05:27:00.000-08:00

Welcome To The Police State!

2011-11-10T13:28:00.000-08:00

Should the police be allowed to slap a tracking device on your vehicle without a warrant? Obvious answer: No! Would such action be unconstitutional? According to the Fourth Amendment: Yes!

But hey, folks, this is post-9/11 America! We don’t take kindly to our own Constitution (especially the Fourth Amendment) around these parts. We need to actually deliberate such scenarios at the Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court invoked visions of an all-seeing Big Brother and satellites watching us from above. Then things got personal Tuesday when the justices were told police could slap GPS devices on their cars and track their movements without asking a judge for advance approval.

The occasion for all the talk about intrusive police actions was a hearing in a case about whether the police must get a search warrant before using GPS technology to track criminal suspects. The outcome could have implications for other high-tech surveillance methods as well.

The justices expressed deep reservations about warrantless GPS tracking. But there also was no clear view about how or whether to regulate police use of the devices.

The justices were taken aback when the lawyer representing the government said police officers could install GPS devices on the justices' cars and track their movements without a warrant. To get a warrant, investigators need to convince a judge that there is reason to believe a suspect is involved in criminal activity.

"So your answer is yes, you could tomorrow decide that you put a GPS device on every one of our cars, follow us for a month; no problem under the Constitution?" Chief Justice John Roberts said.

Not only that, government lawyer Michael Dreeben replied, but FBI agents wouldn't need a warrant either if they wanted to rummage through the justices' trash, use a low-tech beeper to track them or tail them around-the-clock with a team of agents. Dreeben said the court has previously ruled that people have no reasonable expectation of privacy in those circumstances.

Justice Samuel Alito captured the essence of the court's concern when he said, "With computers around, it's now so simple to amass an enormous amount of information. How do we deal with this? Just say nothing has changed?"

Justice Stephen Breyer alluded to George Orwell's novel "1984" when he said surveillance in the past depended on human beings and their sometimes flawed memories. But computers don't have that problem, he said.

"The question that I think people are driving at, at least as I understand it and certainly share the concern, is that if you win this case, then there is nothing to prevent the police or the government from monitoring 24 hours a day the public movement of every citizen of the United States," Breyer said.

At this point, is anyone really shocked? Ever since the Patriot Act was passed, allowing for warrantless wiretaps and record searches, our Constitutional rights have been decreasing, and after ten years, we’ve transformed into a full-blown police state straight out of 1984.

Hyperbole, you say? As of now, the police have the power to break down your door without a warrant if they suspect you’re destroying evidence, search the contents of your cell phone during a traffic stop, pepper spray protesters for no real reason, and arrest people for victimless crimes like growing vegetables in their front yard and feeding the homeless in a public park.

But hey, at least there's one thing the police can't do. They can't be videotaped! Such a violation of the police's right to privacy can land you 75 years in prison. When the police have more of a right to privacy than the average law-abiding citizen, you know you're living in a police state!

La Habitación Roja- Esta no será otra canción de amor

2011-11-10T04:15:00.000-08:00

Somalia Vs Free Market

2011-11-09T15:43:00.000-08:00

Why is it that the stupidest talking points also tend to be the most heavily repeated? If I had a dime for every time I heard Somalia used as an example of libertarianism or free-market capitalism, my fortune could possibly rival that of Bill Gates.

Somalia has no form of government. That means it’s under anarchy. Libertarians and free-market capitalists do want government; they just want to limit its power over the people, especially the market. Therefore, Somalia is not an example of either libertarianism or free-market capitalism.

Unfortunately, such logic does not pervade the minds of libtarded moonbats like Sam Seder, who recently claimed that the best way to debunk libertarians is to simply let them talk.

The free market does not exist. There is no unencumbered market.…Maybe in Somalia.…That’s what a free market is. It is feudalism. It is who has got more guns…or swords, and arrows. They’re the ones who are going to…accumulate the most wealth. Capitalism can only function properly with strong government controls that protect consumers and workers from the excesses of capitalism. It’s not even the excesses. It’s the operation of capitalism.

I love how he assumes that libertarianism or free-market capitalism is about allowing whoever has the most guns the right to rule, even though both philosophies reject the use of force through the non-aggression principle. As one person said in the comment section: “Well, if that's his concern then it makes no sense to grant the state exclusive monopoly on the use of the biggest, baddest guns in society, does it?”

But Seder is half-right about the free market. There has been no true free market, as all markets have had some level of regulation, which is necessary to an extent. However, there are markets which are freer than others, the perfect example being Hong Kong. From Wikipedia:

As one of the world's leading international financial centers, Hong Kong has a major capitalist service economy characterized by low taxation and free trade. The currency, Hong Kong dollar, is the eight most traded currency in the world as of 2010. Hong Kong was once described by Milton Friedman as the world’s greatest experiment in laissez-faire capitalism. It maintains a highly developed capitalist economy, ranked the freest in the world by the Index of Economic Freedom for 15 consecutive years. It is an important centre for international finance and trade, with one of the greatest concentrations of corporate headquarters in the Asia-Pacific region, and is known as one of the Four Asian Tigers for its high growth rates and rapid development from the 1960s to the 1990s. Between 1961 and 1997 Hong Kong's gross domestic product grew 180 times while per-capita GDP increased 87 times over.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is the seventh largest in the world, with a market capitalization of US$2.3 trillion as of December 2009. In that year, Hong Kong raised 22 percent of worldwide initial public offering (IPO) capital, making it the largest centre of IPOs in the world and the easiest place to raise capital. Hong Kong's currency is the Hong Kong dollar, which has been pegged to the U.S. dollar since 1983.

The Hong Kong Government has traditionally played a mostly passive role in the economy, with little by way of industrial policy and almost no import or export controls. Market forces and the private sector were allowed to determine practical development. Under the official policy of "positive non-interventionism", Hong Kong is often cited as an example of laissez-faire capitalism. Following the Second World War, Hong Kong industrialized rapidly as a manufacturing centre driven by exports, and then underwent a rapid transition to a service-based economy in the 1980s. Since then, it has grown to become a leading center for management, financial, IT, business consultation and professional services.

Hong Kong is but the leading example. The remaining Top 10 freest economies are Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, Ireland, Denmark, the United States, and Bahrain. As for Somalia, it isn’t even listed on the Index of Economic Freedom World Rankings. So much for it being a libertarian free market paradise!

Race Realists are Sneaky STATISTS

2011-11-09T11:35:00.000-08:00

“Racism is the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism.” – Ayn Rand

If you believe in grouping people into collectives based upon their skin color, you have no right to call yourself a libertarian. If you believe one group of people has more rights than another, you have no right to call yourself a libertarian. And if you believe people of different races should remain separate, you have no right to call yourself a libertarian.

You simply cannot have racial segregation without a state enforcing it. TheTruePooka explains:

And please don’t put forward fantasies about everyone volunteering to merrily segregate into different cities and states according to race. Because that’s not going to happen. Putting forward such a premise is an absolute copout, a weak and feeble attempt to sidestep the issue and the fact that, even under the best of circumstances, a significant amount of force is going to have to be exerted to enforce this voluntary segregation. The only way they kept the population segregated prior to the civil rights movement was by reducing the rights of one group—black people in this case—so that they could justify and get away with force against them. You think it’s going to be any different now, you think that a city or state coded for black or white only population isn’t going to have to reduce the rights of the racial population that all of a sudden finds itself in the “shit out of luck” seats? Please! Either you people are very stupid or very naïve.…[S]egregationist ideology ends up being in direct conflict with one of the most basic principles of libertarian philosophy: that you don’t use force against others and infringe on their individuality. From a right-libertarian position, even using the slightest force to cause segregation, it is unacceptable. There’s just no way around it.

Having apparently struck the nerve of so many race realists, Pooka’s video was spammed to the point where he was forced to place his video in private. In fact, one person even flagged his video. Pooka points out the irony:

This dimbulb made use of the apparatus of our “state” here on YouTube, Google administration, to try to silence me and destroy my channel.

(sarcastic handclap)

Thank you. Thank you so very much for actually proving my point. It took one or some of you less than 24 hours to run to our internet version of the state for help, thus giving me the concrete proof I need to show without any doubt that my argument has strong merit.

Demotivational Poster: Michael Moore

2011-11-08T16:21:00.000-08:00

On Nov. 3, Occupy Oakland protesters forcibly shut down not only the Port of Oakland, the fifth busiest port in America, but also several surrounding businesses and banks. The peaceful protests turned violent as protesters began smashing windows, spraying graffiti, and tossing Molotov cocktails. This resulted in dozens of protesters getting arrested and at least four being hospitalized.

When liberal filmmaker Michael Moore was asked on Piers Morgan Tonight what he thought of the violence, he simply answered, “there’s no violence coming from the Occupy protesters. This is a non-violent peaceful group.…They’re not destroying any property.” His response received applause from the studio audience.

Nearly a week earlier, Moore had appeared on the same show where he insisted that he was not part of the “one percent”—despite having made millions from his documentaries (which ironically berate the system from which he profits). To Moore, it did not matter that his income placed him in the same bracket as those he has been protesting, he did not consider himself part of the one percent because, as he put it, “even though I do well, I don’t associate myself with those who do well.” (This is sort of like saying he’s not overweight because, even though he’s fat, he doesn’t associate himself with those who are.)

At this point, is anyone really surprised that Moore lied on the exact same show twice? This libtarded moonbat has made his living peddling lies through his propaganda films—excuse me, “documentaries.” (On second thought, never mind. “Propaganda” best describes his films. Just search the dictionary and you’ll find his picture under “Propaganda.”)

In his first documentary Roger and Me, Moore portrays the negative impact that resulted from General Electric shutting down several plants in his hometown of Flint, Michigan. Moore had messed with the chronology of events in order to fit his narrative, thus presenting a distorted and inaccurate one. Paraphrasing a review by critic Harlan Jacobson, New York Times critic Richard Bernstein wrote, “The film compressed events that actually took place over a long period of time and altered the sequence of some of them. The 11 plant closings affected 4 states, not just Flint. The 30,000 jobs lost in Flint were lost over 12 years, not the far shorter span suggested - though never explicitly stated - by Mr. Moore in ‘Roger and Me.’”

In Fahrenheit 9/11, Moore featured several video clips of George W. Bush and his administration, including Condoleezza Rice, who was shown saying, “There is a tie between Iraq and what happened on 9/11.” The clip suggested that Rice was claiming that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11, thus justifying the invasion of Iraq. However, the full context of the quote reveals that the “tie” she was referring to was not Hussein, but radical Islam: “It’s not that Saddam Hussein was somehow himself and his regime involved in 9/11, but, if you think about what caused 9/11, it is the rise of ideologies of hatred that lead people to drive airplanes into buildings in New York....[This] has perverted Islam from a peaceful religion into one in which they call on it for violence. And they're all linked.” (Ah, quote mining at its finest, or rather worst!)

In Sicko, Moore accompanies a group of Americans to a Cuban hospital in order to receive free healthcare. He claims that the treatment they received at the hospital was the exact same treatment every Cuban citizen received. In reality, the hospital they visited was actually reserved for the privileged elites. Poorer citizens tend to visit more rundown clinics with poorer, filthier conditions. In fact, the film’s portrayal of Cuba’s healthcare system was so exaggerated that it was banned in Cuba in fear that it would create “a popular backlash by showing to Cubans facilities that are clearly not available to the vast majority of them.”

And these are only a fraction of the lies Moore has made in his documentaries. (The website Michael Moore: Exposed provides a plethora of lies and distortions Moore has made in film and real life.)

Aside from being a pathological liar, he’s also a massive hypocrite. He profits from capitalism by making films against capitalism—and then he has the nerve to appear on television and claim he’s not part of the same “one percent” he and his fellow moonbats are protesting on Wall Street. Speaking of which, Moore is infamous for claiming “I don't own a single share of stock!” (And guess what: that’s a lie, too!)

At this point, calling Moore a liar is like calling him fat: it’s blatantly obvious, and anyone who doesn’t see it is blind (or liberal, or both)!

madrugada-elektro vakuum

2011-11-08T00:15:00.000-08:00

HACER NEGOCIO CON EL DETERIORO AMBIENTAL Y PROFUNDIZARLO CON LA TECNOLOGÍA EFICIENTE

2011-11-07T23:57:00.000-08:00

Actividades que consideramos respetuosas con el medio ambiente: la lectura de un periódico on line, el envío de gran cantidad de información vía e-mail o colgar vídeos en Youtube, tienen también su coste energético y medioambiental, aparte del económico. Algunas de estas actividades se suponían que iban a ahorrar por ejemplo consumo de papel, pero el derroche de papel a escala global no ha hecho sino aumEntar de forma imparable en la era de la sociedad de la información.

... Se ha llegado a valorar, p. ej., que la lectura de un periódico on line utiliza 10 veces más energía fósil y dos veces más residuos que un periódico tradicional... Este hecho choca con la cultura del gratis total que promueve internet, y que muchos manipulan y magnifican, pues no hay ninguna actividad humana que sea gratis en términos energéticos y ambientales.

De esta forma, la sociedad de la imagen y la información ayuda a ocultar aún más la gravísima crisis ecológica que enfrentamos.

Ramón Fernández Duran. El Antropoceno. La expansión del capitalismo global choca con la biosfera. Ed. Virus. Barcelona, 2011.
Fotografía: Juan Sánchez Amorós.

Demotivational Poster: Moral Majority

2011-11-07T16:02:00.000-08:00

CHRISTIAN, n.: One who believes that the New Testament is a divinely inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbor. One who follows the teachings of Christ in so far as they are not inconsistent with a life of sin. (The Devil's Dictionary, Ambrose Pierce)

Why is it that politicians who espouse Christian “family values” also tend to be the most immoral sinners? Sarah Palin’s daughter had a baby out-of-wedlock. Larry Craig was caught soliciting gay sex in an airport bathroom. Mark Sanford had an affair with an Argentinean mistress. And now Herman Cain has been accused of sexually-harassing two female employees. And he still remains ahead in the polls!

So let's get this straight: if you're a Democrat who tweets his junk, you get forced to resign; if you're a Democrat who receives head from an intern, you get impeached; but if you're a Republican who harasses two female employees, you remain ahead in the polls? And Republicans are supposed to be the Moral Majority?

For the record, I could care less what Cain allegedly did to his female employees. American politicians have been involved in sex scandals ever since Thomas Jefferson. Don’t hate Cain because he’s a sexual pervert. Hate him because he’s a Federal Reserve shill! (No need to audit the Federal Reserve? Bullshit!)

Madrugada - Life in the city

2011-11-07T13:59:00.000-08:00

ANTI-LIBERTARIANS CAN'T THINK: atticana

2011-11-07T13:12:00.000-08:00

"What always strikes me about libertarians...is that they are invariably white and middle class."

My second target in my series is atticana, who believes that libertarians are only morally-deficient atheists.

VIDEOS FEATURED

"Libertarians = Morally Deficient Atheists" by atticana

"We're not racists, BUT ..." by ZOMGitsCriss

OTHER LINKS

Economic Freedom and Quality of Life

Myth of the Robber Barons

Minimum Wage Equals Minimum Jobs

OTHER MEDIA

Arguing with Idiots Theme Song

Music by Kevin MacLeod

White Nationalism Is Like Favorite Ice Cream Flavor?

2011-11-07T12:28:00.000-08:00

New Rule: If you group people into collectives based upon their race, or defend people who do likewise, then you have no right to consider yourself a libertarian.

In his video Worst Argument Ever, Coughlan000 destroys "libertarian" greenghost2008 for defending “race realist” HeyRuka by claiming that White Nationalism is like having a favorite ice cream flavor.

How the hell is White Nationalism like having a favorite ice cream flavor? As greenghost explained: “It’s simply preferring people just like you. In this world, that very well has a racial context.”

Good grief. The problem with White Nationalists like HeyRuka, as Coughlan points out, isn’t that they prefer people of the same race: it’s that they consider their race superior to all others, want to maintain the purity of their race, and desire to eliminate everyone else of a different race. That’s like someone liking vanilla ice cream and wanting ice cream shops to serve nothing but vanilla ice cream.

But hold on, folks! It gets worse from here.

Coughlan released a second video in which he responds to the many responses he received from the first video, including one unintentionally lulzy personal message from a self-described racist.

If a white and a black have a child, not only their skin color mixes, but also their IQ. If one person has an IQ of 120, and the other has an IQ of 80, the end result is 100.

Coughlan gave an appropriate response: facepalm!

This Week In Review (11/06/2011)

2011-11-06T14:37:00.000-08:00

Since so many things happen over the week for me to create individual blog posts, I decided to create a weekly digest of the week’s events (along with my snarky commentary). And yes, I plan on doing this every Sunday.

• Nearly 650 thousand consumers have switched to credit unions over the past four weeks. This movement was in support of Bank Transfer Day yesterday, created to protest the debit card fees levied by big banks such as Bank Of America—fees which are the result of the costs created by the Durbin Amendment in the Dodd-Frank Law, which places restrictions on debit card transactions (and therefore the fault of big government, not big business). The protest has been largely successful, as Bank of America has since dropped its $5 debit card fees. In my opinion, this is the CORRECT way to handle big business: if you don’t like what a business or corporation is doing, take your business elsewhere! That’s how the free market works.

• Occupy protests forcibly shut down the Port of Oakland. The peaceful “protest” turned violent when protesters began smashing windows, spraying graffiti, and tossing Molotov cocktails. This resulted in dozens of protesters getting arrested and at least four being hospitalized. Look, I despise police brutality as much as the next libertarian, but when your protest degenerates into violent chaos, you’re pretty much asking for tear gas—especially when your actions (violent or not) actually hurt the people you’re trying to help!

• Herman Cain remains ahead in the polls despite his sexual harassment allegations. A Washington Post/ABC Poll shows Cain at 23 percent, below Mitt Romney at 24 percent and above Rick Perry at 13 percent. So let’s get this straight: if you’re a Democrat who tweets his junk, you get forced to resign; if you’re a Democrat who receives head from an intern, you get impeached; but if you’re a Republican and you harass a female employee, you remain ahead in the polls? So much for Republicans being the moral majority! (For the record: I don’t hate Cain because he allegedly sexually harassed a girl. I hate him because he’s a Federal Reserve shill! No need to audit the Federal Reserve? Bullshit!)

• ‘In God We Trust’ was reaffirmed as the National Motto by the House of Representatives. Yes, screw the fact that our economy is circling the drain, that we’re trillions of dollars in debt, that our entitlement programs are on the verge of bankruptcy, and that we’re currently engaged in perpetual war overseas. Our top priority should be affirming that our National Motto is ‘In God We Trust’—a motto that wasn’t added to our currency until 1957! Don’t get me wrong: I have nothing against the motto or its appearance on our money. But this is not the time to be concerned about it. We have more pertinent issues to attend to. Good Grief! And Congress wonders why it has such a low approval rating!

• Ron Paul won the Illinois straw poll. As a Ron Paul supporter, I should be happy about this. But let’s face it: with the media ignoring Paul and pimping candidates like Romney, Perry, and Cain, I know he isn’t going to be the Republican presidential candidate. Don’t get me wrong: I’m still voting for him, and I urge everyone else to do the same, but the stark reality is that he’s unelectable in the Republican Party, considering he’s been against most of its agenda. Too bad he doesn't want to run as an Independent.

• Warren Buffet’s wife Elizabeth was called a “Socialist Whore.” In other news, the sky is blue!

• Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from her husband Kris Humphries only 72 days after their wedding. A celebrity couple getting divorced? This has never happened before! I would say “who cares?” but I don’t even care enough to say “who cares?” (Yet apparently I care enough to mention it. Sheesh. This is a slow news weeks!)

Racists Are F'N Stupid!

2011-11-06T14:09:00.000-08:00

Coughlan616 released the following video debunking the four most asinine claims made by racists—sorry, I mean “race realists”:

1) There is a white genocide.
2) Anti-racist is code word for anti-white.
3) White people are genetically superior non-white, particularly when it comes to intellectual capacity and IQ.
4) Most white people are too brainwashed by political correctness and the media into saying anything OR they’re too scared to speak out because they don’t want to be labeled a racist.

NADIE AL OTRO LADO

2011-11-06T02:53:00.000-08:00

Yo no podría vivir en una sociedad donde todos hicieran,
pensaran y vistieran lo mismo,
pero es en este mundo donde vivo.

Yo no podría vivir en una sociedad
donde todos cantaran las mismas canciones,
canciones que hablan de gente predestinada a ganar o a perder,
pero es en este mundo donde vivo.

Yo no podría vivir en una sociedad
donde no se pudiera ser viejo,
feo, gordo, flaco, bajo, alto o negro,
pero es en este mundo donde vivo.

Yo no podría vivir en una sociedad
dominada por el cálculo material,
donde las cartas estuviesen marcadas
y las reglas del juego prefijadas desde antes de nacer,
pero es en este mundo donde vivo.

Yo no podría vivir en una sociedad donde la política
hubiese quedado exclusivamente en manos de los políticos
y el único principio moral fuera perro come perro,
pero es en este mundo donde vivo.

Yo no podría vivir en una sociedad
hecha de vacío y telerrealidad,
de banners, links, mails, sms, facebook y demás,
pero es en este mundo donde vivo.

Yo no podría vivir en una sociedad donde los amigos fueran
puntos de luz en una pantalla,
cuerpos que no olieran, no tuvieran sabor,
no pudieran abrazarse ni hacerles cosquillas,
pero es en este mundo donde vivo,

en este mundo
donde vivo.

Antonio Orihuela. Todo el mundo está en otro lugar. Ed. Baile del Sol, 2011.

Pony Saturday: Luna Eclipsed and Sisterhooves Social

2011-11-05T13:17:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the return of Pony Saturday. I apologize for not updating. Though as I said in a previous post, I had been on hiatus due to life in general.

I decided that for now and future Pony Saturdays that I would review the new episodes of the second season. Today, I’ll be giving my thoughts not only on this week’s episode “Sisterhooves Social” but also the last (and perhaps, most anticipated) episode “Luna Eclipsed.” (So Haha! The fun has been doubled!)

First, my thoughts on “Luna Eclipsed”:

• Spike dressed as a dragon? Funny or forced? I have to say forced.
• Question: Why was Granny Smith escorting three random fillies rather than Apple Bloom and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders?
• Pinkie Pie as a chicken. It really suits her!
• Pipsqueak: my newest favorite pony!
• Anyone else think that Rainbow Dash’s costume looked like the Shadow Bolts?
• Gotta love seeing Derpy Hooves being—well—derpy!
• Loved Zecora’s costume, especially her wig! (Or as Sweetie Belle would say: “I really like her mane!”)
• Question: If Nightmare Moon was imprisoned on the moon for a thousand years, how could she possibly come back to Equestria to “gobble up” little ponies on Night Mare Night? Continuity error!
• Question: If Nightmare Moon had been transformed back into Princess Luna, why continue the tradition of Nightmare Night? Isn’t that slightly disrespectful?
• Princess Luna’s portrayal slightly disappointed me, considering I’m used to her portrayal in fandom as a shy and reclusive pony like Fluttershy. Nonetheless, loved her Shakespearean accent. It suits her well. Also loved her mane!
• Only makes sense for a pony afraid of her own shadow like Fluttershy to lock herself in on the scariest night of the year.
• Loved the scene between Luna and Fluttershy! Funniest moment in the episode. Nice use of slapstick.
• Question: Why were Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie afraid of Luna if they had both helped transform her back to normal from Nightmare Moon using the Elements of Harmony? Pinkie Pie claimed she was only having fun, but Fluttershy was legitimately frightened. Did she just forget that Luna was no longer Nightmare Moon.
• New Meme Alert: Luna: “Haha! The Fun Has Been Doubled!”
• Luna can change to Nightmare Moon whenever she wants. Who knew?
• Rarity wasn’t in this episode. I don’t care. She’s one of my least favorites. I don’t hate her. I just don’t like her either.

And here are my thoughts on today’s episode “Sisterhooves Social”:

• Rarity has parents! And they’re nothing like her. One would think they would be suave aristocrats like Rarity, but instead they’re Midwestern Hoosiers (Gosh golly, don’cha know!). This begs the question of where Rarity received her grace and sophistication.
• Question: How DOES one burn juice? LOL!
• Question: If Rarity’s sweater wasn’t supposed to be washed, as it shrinks in the sunlight, what was it doing in the laundry room? Moreover, how does she wash and dry it? I don’t think there’s electricity in Ponyville, so there’s obviously no dryer.
• Rarity needed rare baby blue sapphires for an extremely important client. Sapphire Shores, perhaps?
• LOL! Rarity needs to live in "organized chaos" to be inspired. Just like every good artist.
• Question: Sweetie Belle is sleeping over? In other words, she doesn't live with Rarity. So, what about in "Stare Master" when Fluttershy has to take her off her hands? Was she "sleeping over" then?
• Loved how Apple Jack and Apple Bloom reacted to Rarity’s remark of “uncouth.” (As described by Jeff Foxworthy: Redneck: glorious absence of sophistication!)
• Two fandoms died in this episode. As was clearly shown, Derpy Hooves is not the mother of Dinky Doo, nor is Berry Punch the mother of Berry Pinch (She’s actually the sister to Pina Colada).
• New Meme Alert: Apple Bloom: “One day!”
• Loved Granny Smith’s scene! ;)
• Really didn’t expect the surprise ending. Seriously, I wasn’t. Kudos to the writers!
• First episode where another pony, rather than Twilight Sparkle, writes a letter to Princess Celestia.

Practiced Ethics

2011-11-05T12:02:00.000-07:00

I promised in the last post that I would take up in this one the issue of what a practiced ethics would look like in the real world. However, I think that in framing it that way, I was getting ahead of myself. Because neither I, nor anyone else, is currently in a position to prescribe ethical behavior to anyone else, at least not in some kind of codified, absolute form. And I'm not sure anyone ever will be.

But what some people are ready to do is to start having a genuine conversation about it. But if this conversation is to be had, we have to acknowledge that some people are better equipped to contribute to the conversation than others. In any other field of human inquiry and understanding, this would not even need be said. If, for instance, my hometown were to notice that the expansion bridge that connects it to its southern neighbor was in danger of collapsing, there would be little question as to whom to consult for advice regarding its repair; architects, materials and structural engineers, construction firms, etc. If a barista at a local coffee shop, or a stylist at a salon started insisting that their opinion regarding the bridge's repair was just a valuable as the structural engineer's, they would most likely be ignored, or committed.

So why is it, then, that in the most important questions of our lives as social creatures, the questions of how we should treat one another, we fail to see that some people have better answers than others?

I could go on at length about this, but I would simply be reiterating an argument that Sam Harris made much more poignantly at TED. So I've embedded that video here, and it is really well worth your time to watch it in its entirety. It might be the best 20 minutes you spend this year.

I just watched this for the third time, thinking that there were some points he makes that I wanted to elaborate on. But I don't think that's necessary. I think he takes care of himself.

IN GIRUM IMUS NOCTE ET CONSUMIMUR IGNI

2011-11-04T04:18:00.000-07:00

La nueva belleza será situacional,
es decir, provisional, y vivida realmente.
Internacional Situacionista (1957)

Queremos poner arte en la vida
pero sólo levantamos monumentos al dinero.

Queremos poner arte en la vida
pero no queremos ir más allá.

Quien quiera poner arte en su vida
deberá cambiar de vida,

inventar un modo propio de vida
sería realizar la gran obra de arte con la propia vida,
pero todo es confuso,
todo se erosiona.

Caos, caducidad, precariedad
son hoy categorías económicas,
el discurso monolítico del poder
hace innecesarias las reflexiones comunitarias.

Nos educan con anuncios,
nuestros sueños están hechos de publicidad,
las consignas de la emancipación
vienen del consumo.

En este desear, parece que los únicos que saben lo que quieren
son las autopistas y las grandes superficies comerciales,

pero no hay autopista que nos aleje de nuestras vidas miserables
y nos lleve de vuelta al hogar.

Tampoco hay en las estanterías una sola clase de galletas.

Nos estamos volviendo inhabitables.

Antonio Orihuela. Todo el mundo está en otro lugar. Ed. Baile del Sol, 2011.

Chivalry Sucks? Benevolent Sexism?

2011-11-03T15:35:00.000-07:00

One would think that men showing common courtesy to women by opening doors for them or volunteering to carry something for them would please the feminists. Unfortunately, to feminists like healthyaddict, such chivalry degrades women as a form of “benevolent sexism”—whatever the hell that is!

Yes, apparently to healthyaddict, a man volunteering to do the dishes for a woman is sexist. So would it be less sexist to let the woman do the dishes—along with the rest of the house work? Wouldn’t that imply that women are only good for cooking and cleaning? Wouldn’t that be forcing them to conform to sexist gender roles?

Good grief. It’s sexist if you do, sexist if you don’t.

Thankfully, Coughlan000 made an excellent rebuttal to this nonsense:

If sexism, in any way, or prejudice manifested itself in the worst way possible, and that worst way happened to be people holding doors open for you, we’ve kind of won at that point, haven’t we?

EL BRONCE EXACTO

2011-11-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

Qué pena, de verdad, no poder invitarte
a tomar un café como viejos amigos,
en un bar concurrido, a plena luz del día,
por no darle motivos de celos a tu esposo.
Hubo un tiempo en que virgen astuta lo esquivabas,
para venir a hincarme los dientes en el cuello
y a atesorar tus sueños en mi abrazo indeciso.

Por mi parte no quiero sepultar entre escombros
como remordimientos los besos que me diste,
el olor de tu vulva mojada en mi bigote,
el gemido venéreo de tu boca entreabierta
cuando te masturbaba sin apartar la tela.

Te empujé hacia las rocas y te amé entre la espuma,
recorrí con la lengua los pezones abruptos
que la sal comprimía en tus pechos de niña.

En una sola mano me cabía tu culo.

Tu vientre era tan duro como la teca cóncava.

Pero ahora no quiero revivir aquel sueño,
que ya me acostumbré a tu desamor.

Sólo quiero un café, que me cuentes tu vida,
si estás embarazada, si acabaste Turismo,
y ver si vas de rubia o pelirroja
o has vuelto al bronce exacto
de tus catorce años.

Aún sueño contigo,
porque supiste arder sin extinguirte
mientras me devorabas hasta el vicio.

Nunca te penetré,
pero cuanto follamos, amor mío.

El mejor Román Piña Valls en su contribución a la antología poética EL ÚLTIMO JUEVES: 15 años de poesía on the road. Ed. Calima, 2011.

Reality Has A Liberal Bias?

2011-11-02T10:57:00.000-07:00

In his New York Times bestselling book Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News, Emmy Award-winning journalist Bernard Goldberg wrote about the pervasive liberal bias he experienced firsthand while working at CBS News for 30 years. He claimed that the bias was not part of some conspiracy being secretly implemented by the media, but that it was an unintentional consequence of having so many politically like-minded journalists working together in the same environment with very little dissenting opinion among them.

“If you hooked network news reporters and producers to polygraph machines and asked them, ‘Do you think you are guilty of liberal bias?’ most would almost certainly answer, ‘no.’ And they would pass the polygraph test because they’re not lying,” he wrote. “They honestly believe what they’re saying. And that’s the biggest problem of all.”¹

Goldberg did not write anything in his book that most Americans did not already assume to be true. According to a 2010 Gallup poll, 48 percent of Americans believe the media is too liberal, while only 15 percent believe it is too conservative.² (Ironically enough, the study also showed that both Democrats and liberals are more likely to trust the media and perceive no bias.)

Of course, popular opinion means nothing without evidence to back it up, and fortunately, there is plenty of evidence to support the opinion that the media is liberally biased.

In his well-renowned study “The Media Elite,” Professor S. Robert Lichter found that of the 238 journalists he randomly surveyed from the top media outlets, 54 percent identified themselves as liberal while only 17 percent identified as conservative.³ These journalists also tended to vote mostly Democrat and support liberal positions on economic and social issues. While this study may be over 30 years old, subsequent surveys have shown, time and again, that the majority of journalists in the media identify as left-of-center, vote for Democratic candidates, and support liberal positions on economic and social issues.⁴

In spite of such surveys, liberals have insisted that the media is not really liberal, but conservative. As liberal pundit Keith Olbermann explained on his former MSNBC show Countdown, “the media which is, after all, owned by corporations, naturally leans to the right. Corporations, by definition, lean to the right, towards the status quo.”⁵

Notice how Olbermann insinuates that corporations “by definition” are conservative (which begs the question of which dictionary he used to obtain his “definition”), and therefore, the media is conservative because it is owned by corporations. Never mind that the Top 100 corporations in the Fortune 500 donate more to liberal political groups and candidates than they do to conservative ones.⁶ Never mind that most mainstream media executives and employees donated heavily to Democratic candidates, especially to Barack Obama, in the 2008 election.⁷ And never mind, of course, that Olbermann hosts his show on the overtly left-leaning MSNBC (which also hosts fellow liberal pundits including Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Dylan Ratigan, Ed Schulz, and Lawrence O’Donnell) which is owned by General Electric—a corporation that donates heavily to Democratic candidates and lobbies mostly for liberal causes.⁸ (Olbermann now works for Current TV, which is owned by former Democratic vice president Al Gore). No, the media is conservative because—well—Olbermann’s dictionary says so.

Olbermann then proceeded in a manner similar to a piece on the left-wing blog BartCop.com to list 25 conservative voices in the mainstream media (28 if you include Bill O’Reilly, Bernard Goldberg, and Glenn Beck, which were not part of the list but mentioned earlier in the segment).⁹ Four things about the people on Olbermann’s list:

1) A few of them (John Stossel, Neal Boortz, and Matt Drudge) identify as libertarian, not conservative (though technically, they are right-wing libertarians).

2) Most of them are either on Fox News (Sean Hannity, Mike Huckabee, Neil Cavuto, Brian Kilmeade) or talk radio (G. Gordon Liddy, Michael Medved, Laura Ingram, Lou Dobbs)—and therefore make up a small portion of the mainstream media (if you consider AM radio “mainstream”).

3) The majority of them are commentators, not journalists, who offer opinion, not news. (And they openly admit that their opinion is conservative, which is more than can be said of Olbermann who claims not to be liberal, but American!¹⁰)

4) Even if we ignore the top three points and include these 25 people as part of the mainstream media, that still does not negate the fact that the majority of journalists in the media are liberal, thus making the media liberal.

And yet even when confronted with the overwhelming evidence that the majority of journalists in the mainstream media identify as liberal, support liberal causes, vote for liberal candidates, and work for liberal corporations which tilt the news towards a liberal slant, liberals will remain unfazed—worse, they will reply with perhaps the most blatantly and willfully ignorant response any supposedly critically-thinking human being can think up: “Reality has a liberal bias!”

Yes, ever since satirist Stephen Colbert uttered this line at the at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner,¹¹ liberals have been mindlessly regurgitating it (just as they do with their other talking points: “Tax The Rich!” “Bush Lied! Kids Died!” “Keep Your Laws Off My Body!” “Fox Lies! Fox Lies! Fox Lies!”), and it has been plaguing the web in comment sections, discussion threads, and internet memes ever since.

“Reality has a liberal bias.”

Sometimes I wonder what drugs liberals heavily abused in order for their malfunctioning brains to think up such a response. Were they shaken by a British Nanny? Were they dropped on the head too many times? Do they drink out of the toilet? Do they honestly live in the same country—nay, the same reality—as I do? If so, I fear them driving down a busy highway or operating heavy machinery—or worse, running for office!

“Reality has a liberal bias.”

Yes, to liberals, it does not matter that the media has a liberal bias because, apparently, so does reality. After all, if the media is supposed to report on the facts, and the media reports on a story with a liberal bias, then one can only ~~illogically~~ logically conclude that the facts have a liberal bias, regardless of how twisted, flimsy, and selectively-chosen those facts may be. (This must be why liberals are more willing to trust the media. They never question it!)

“Reality has a liberal bias.”

Such was the title of a Huffington Post article by blogger Bill Swadley, who stated that “the reason almost all news outlets other than the most right-wing (you know who you are) can readily be accused of having a liberal bias regardless of how diligently they try to stay in the middle of the road is this simple explanation. Reality has a liberal bias.”¹² He corroborated his statement with three examples where reality allegedly favored liberals: climate change, healthcare reform, and taxing the wealthy. The saddest part (for Swadley, at least) is that these three examples can be easily debunked with reality.

Let’s start with climate change. While it is true that earth’s climate has been changing in recent years (as it has been ever since the earth first came into existence), it has yet to be proven with concrete scientific and empirical evidence that the earth’s climate has been warming, let alone due to human activity. Contrary to what liberals or the media (or both) will have you believe, climate science has yet to be perfected. This is especially true considering that climate scientists in the 1970s once believed that the earth’s climate was cooling, and thus leading to another ice age.¹³ In fact, three different scientific analyses have suggested that the Earth is heading into a “mini Ice Age” due to recent low solar activity.¹⁴ Even NASA scientists, upon discovering that Earth's oceans have significantly cooled since 2003, have admitted that global warming has experienced a “speed bump.”¹⁵ Add other “inconvenient truths” like how Arctic temperatures were warmer in the 1940s¹⁶ and how many glaciers which were once receding have started advancing again,¹⁷ and the case for global warming falls short.

But let us assume that global warming is scientifically accurate. Who is to say that it is caused by human beings—other than liberals, the media, and the alleged “scientific consensus” (which doesn’t exist, considering many scientists do not believe in man-made global warming, having signed petitions such as the Statement by Atmospheric Scientists on Greenhouse Warming,¹⁸ the Leipzig Declaration on Global Climate Change,¹⁹ and the Global Warming Petition Project²⁰)? In order to prove that humans are responsible for global warming, liberals like Al Gore have used temperature charts that show how rising carbon levels in earth’s atmosphere (created by human activity, of course) allegedly correlates with earth’s rising temperatures; yet closer examination of these charts show that, in many cases, temperature actually rose before carbon had.²¹ Liberals try to explain this away by claiming that carbon both causes and is caused by rising temperatures, which is sort of like saying that high cholesterol both causes and is caused by heart attacks. Either high cholesterol causes heart attacks, or heart attacks cause high cholesterol. Either carbon causes global warming, or global warming causes carbon. It cannot be both!

The next example Swadley gives is healthcare reform. Liberals claim that universal healthcare is far superior to our current healthcare system, but as with climate change, reality does not agree with them. Obama’s Healthcare Reform, rather than help uninsured Americans, will not only leave millions uninsured,²² but will also raise costs and premiums and slash Medicare.²³ Speaking of which, not only is Medicare (another example of universal healthcare) on the verge of going broke,²⁴ but it also denies more claims than private insurers²⁵ and is rejected by many medical professionals due to expenses.²⁶ As for European healthcare, while Great Britain’s National Health Service is praised by liberals as a shining example of universal healthcare, it is often forced by budget cuts to pass draconian measures such as shutting down hospital wards,²⁷ banning life-prolonging cancer medication,²⁸ and even forcing hospitals to turn over bed sheets rather than clean them.²⁹ Even British Health Secretary Andrew Lansley argues that the NHS faces a financial crisis due to a rising ageing population and rising drug prices: “Put simply, if things carry on unchanged, this would mean real terms health spending more than doubling to £230billion. That is more than £7,000 a second – twice as much as we are spending today. This is something we simply cannot afford.”³⁰

The last example Swadley gives (and perhaps the easiest to debunk) is taxing the wealthy. Contrary to what liberals claim, the rich do pay their fair share in taxes. The richest one percent pays roughly 40 percent of the country’s total income tax³¹ and nearly 28 percent of the total tax burden,³² while the top 10 percent pay 60 percent of the total income tax and roughly 57 percent of the total tax burden. In contrast, the bottom 2 percent pays less than 3 percent in total income tax and less than a fraction of a percent of the total tax burden. If the rich don’t pay their fair share, it is clearly because they pay more, not less.

And that’s only three examples of how reality fails to have a liberal bias, contrary to what liberals like Swadley believe. There are many more beliefs liberals have that do not match up with reality (many of which I have debunked in previous essays including “100 Questions For Liberals”³³ and “Top 10 Economic Myths—Busted!”³⁴).

But does this suggest that reality has a conservative bias? Absolutely not. Like liberals, conservatives have plenty of beliefs not based on reality (many of which I have also debunked in “100 Questions For Conservatives”³⁵). Reality itself has no bias. It is simply reality. And the more we learn about reality, the less relevant our older ideas become, making way for new ones. This is why we should keep an open mind, hear both sides of an issue, and then follow the facts to see where they lead us.

I myself, despite being the conservative libertarian I am, have kept an open mind and changed my political beliefs over time. For example, I once believed that prayer should be mandated in public schools; but after reading the Constitution and discovering a little something called the Establishment Clause, I decided mandatory school prayer would be unconstitutional. I once thought that drugs like marijuana should remain illegal and that stricter drug laws should be legislated; but I took a 180-degree turn on the issue after realizing that keeping drugs illegal does not eliminate drugs, but rather pushes them into the black market to be distributed and controlled by drug lords and gang members.

This is why conservatives like myself protest against liberal bias in the media and advocate for a more objective media where all sides can be presented and heard. This is why Fox News, despite its blatant conservative bias in spite of its motto of being “fair and balanced,” allows the opinions of liberal commentators like Alan Colmes, Geraldo Rivera, Juan Williams, Greta Van Susteren, Shepherd Smith, Bob Beckel, Kristen Powers, Mara Liasson, Bill Shulz, Susan Estrich, and Ed Henry. Even Bill O’Reilly, whose “No Spin Zone” contains plenty of conservative spin, invites liberal guests onto his show to debate him (though he spends most of the time yelling at them)—which is in stark contrast to Keith Olbermann, who prefers his echo chamber where every one of his guests nods in agreement with him.

Because liberals do not care about presenting all sides to an issue. They do not care if the media slants towards the left. They simply do not care about other people’s opinions. Why should they? They already believe they are right. (Reality is on their side, after all!) That only means everyone else is wrong. Objectivity would only get in the way of the truth—or rather, their truth (which to them is the only truth).

This is why liberals like Keith Olbermann mock the “false god of objectivity,” which they believe places facts before truth.³⁶

This is why liberals like Rachel Maddow will stand by their stories,³⁷ even when they are proven to be false by independent fact-checking websites like PolitiFact.³⁸

This is why liberal organizations like Media Matters (which are tax-exempt non-profit organizations³⁹ that are forbidden by law from engaging in partisan political activity ) will run campaigns calling for the overthrow of Fox News.⁴⁰

This is why liberal researchers release biased studies claiming Fox News viewers are misinformed⁴¹ (while said studies themselves are grossly misinformed⁴²).

And this is why so many liberals like Keith Olbermann,⁴³ Rachel Maddow, Bill Maher,⁴⁴ Glenn Greenwald,⁴⁵ Daniel Denvir,⁴⁶ Chris Hedges,⁴⁷ and Dennis Trainor, Jr.⁴⁸ chastised (or rather, nearly castrated) Jon Stewart for criticizing both the left and the right (as opposed to the right, and only the right) at his Rally To Restore Sanity for having sensationalized and politicized the media.⁴⁹

The ironic part is that, according to Roget’s Thesaurus, being “liberal” is synonymous with being “broad-minded” and “unbiased”—and if their attitude towards bias in the media is any indicator, then liberals are the polar opposite of their synonyms, being “narrow-minded” and “biased.”⁵⁰ What else do you call a group of people who claim reality is on their side, especially when it is not?

And it is a real shame, too, as liberals like the great philosopher John Stuart Mill were once regarded for being open-minded. As Mill once wrote: “In the case of any person whose judgment is really deserving of confidence, how has it become so? Because he has kept his mind open to criticism of his opinions and conduct. Because it has been his practice to listen to all that could be said against him; to profit by as much of it as was just, and expound to himself, and upon occasion to others, the fallacy of what was fallacious. Because he has felt, that the only way in which a human being can make some approach to knowing the whole of a subject, is by hearing what can be said about it by persons of every variety of opinion, and studying all modes in which it can be looked at by every character of mind. No wise man ever acquired his wisdom in any mode but this; nor is it in the nature of human intellect to become wise in any other manner.”

Endnotes

1. Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News. Bernard Goldberg. (Regency Publishing, 2001)
2. Distrust in U.S. Media Edges Up to Record High. Lymari Morales. (Gallup, Sept. 2010)
3. The Media Elite. S. Robert Lichter. (1981)
4. In the Tank: A Statistical Analysis of Media Bias. John Perazzo. (FrontPage Magazine, Oct 2008)
5. Keith Olbermann Destroys the Myth of Liberal Media Bias. (PoliticusUSA, Dec. 2009)
6. Funding Liberalism With Blue-Chip Profits. Sarah Haney and David Hogberg. (Human Events, Aug 2006)
7. Obama, Democrats got 88 percent of 2008 contributions by TV network execs, writers, reporters UPDATED! (Washington Examiner, Aug 2010)
8. GE employee Olbermann insists corporations are inherently conservative. Timothy P. Carney (Washington Examiner, Dec 2009)
9. The Myth of the "liberal" media. (BartCop, Dec. 2000)
10. Anchor Olbermann counts on commentary to boost MSNBC's ratings. Mackenzie Carpenter. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Dec. 2006)
11. Stephen Colbert at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner (2006)
12. Reality Has a Liberal Bias. Bill Swadley (Huffington Post, Mar 2011)
13. Another Ice Age? (Time Magazine, June 1974)
14. Earth may be headed into a mini Ice Age within a decade. Lewis Page. (The Register, June 2011)
15. Short-Term Ocean Cooling Suggests Global Warming "Speed Bump." Erica Hupp and Dwayne Brown. (Sept. 2006)
16. Would CO2 Emission Cuts Save Arctic Ice and Reduce Sea-Level Rise? Christopher Monckton (Science And Public Policy Institute, Apr. 2009)
17. There Is No 'Consensus' On Global Warming. Prof Richard S. Lindzen. (Wall Street Journal, Dec 2009)
18. 1992 Statement by Atmospheric Scientists on Greenhouse Warming.
19. The Leipzig Declaration on Global Climate Change
20. Global Warming Petition Project. (Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine)
21. Climate myths: Ice cores show CO2 increases lag behind temperature rises, disproving the link to global warming. Catherine Brahic and Michael Le Page. (New Scientist, May 2007)
22. Senate health-care bill would still leave millions uninsured. Perry Bacon Jr. (Washington Post, Jan 2010)
23. Report: Overhaul would raise health care costs. (Associated Press, Dec 2009)
24. Trustees: Key Medicare Program Will Exhaust in 2024. (C-SPAN, May 2011)
25. 2008 National Health Insurer Report Card. (American Medical Association, 2008)
26. When Doctors Opt Out. Marc Siegel. (Wall Street Journal, Apr 2009)
27. Hospital wards to shut in secret NHS cuts. Jon Swaine and Holly Watt (The Telegraph, Mar 2010)
28. Life prolonging cancer drugs to be banned because they cost too much. (Daily Mail, Mar 2009)
29. Hard-up hospital orders staff: Don't wash sheets - turn them over. Daniel Martin (Daily Mail, Apr 2007
30. Why the health service needs surgery. Andrew Lansley (The Telegraph, Jun 2011)
31. Historical Effective Federal Tax Rates: 1979 to 2005. (Congressional Budget Office, Dec 2007)
32. “Table T07-0294 - Distribution of Federal Taxes Under Pre-EGTRRA Individual Income and Estate Tax Law, By Cash Income Percentiles, 2007.” (Tax Policy Center, Aug 2007)
33. 100 Questions For Liberals. (Blame The 1st!, Aug. 2011)
34. Top 10 Economic Myths—BUSTED! (Blame The 1st!, Oct. 2011)
35. 100 Questions For Conservatives. (Blame The 1st!, Aug. 2011)
36. False promise of ‘objectivity’ proves ‘truth’ superior to ‘fact.’ Keith Olbermann. (MSNBC, Nov. 2010)
37. Rachel Maddow Defends Her Reporting To Politifact, Takes On Her Anti-Gay Critics. Jack Mirkinson. (Huffington Post, Feb 2011)
38. Rachel Maddow says Wisconsin is on track to have a budget surplus this year. (PolitiFact, Feb. 2011)
39. Media Matters Puts Tax-Exempt Status in Jeopardy. Elizabeth MacDonald. (Fox Business, Aug. 2011)
40. DropFox
41. Fox News Viewers Are The Most Misinformed: Study. Jack Mirkinson. (Huffington Post, Apr. 2010)
42. Fox News Viewers Are Misinformed Study, The Critique. Lee Doren. (HowTheWorldWorks, Dec 2010)
43. Keith Olbermann Talks About The Rally To Restore Sanity. (Nov. 2010)
44. Bill Maher vs. Jon Stewart: Maher Takes On Rally To Restore Sanity. Alex Leo First. (Huffington Post, Nov. 2010)
45. The perils of false equivalencies and self-proclaimed centrism. Glenn Greenwald. (Salon, Sept. 2010)
46. Jon Stewart, Your Rally Is Laughing-at-You Funny. Daniel Denvir. (Huffington Post, Sept. 2010)
47. The Phantom Left. Chris Hedges. (Truthdig, Nov 2010)
48. An Open Letter To Jon Stewart re: "The Rally To Restore Sanity." Dennis Trainor, Jr. (No Cure For That, Oct. 2010)
49. Jon Stewart Explains The Purpose Of The Rally To Restore Sanity. Frances Martel. (Mediaite, Oct 2010)
50. "liberal." Roget's Thesaurus

UN ANIMAL MANSO

2011-11-02T05:26:00.000-07:00

Acostado sobre el cesped, con los ojos cerrados,
acaricio la tierra como a un animal manso.
Mis dedos juegan con la hierba, siento el ensortijado cabello de un perrro,
noto de vez en cuando, que la tierra
me lame la mano.

Jorge Espina. El último jueves: 15 de años de poesía on the road. Calima, 2011.
Fotografía: Juan Sánchez Amorós

A Relative Contradiction

2011-11-01T17:10:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have been away for an inexcusable length of time. I wish I could say that meant I was productively producing pounds and pounds of fiction, but alas, I cannot even say that. I have though, at the very least, gotten quite a bit of interesting reading done, some of which has given me a lot to think about, which is one of the reasons I am here, firing up the laptop again.

Among the books I've made my way through in the last couple months, which I list here only because I recommend them all quite strongly; Robert Zubrin's The Case for Mars, outlining and advocating for an aggressive approach for exploring and colonizing the Red Planet, very convincing, very compelling- Sam Harris' The Moral Landscape, arguing for a rational, scientific approach to ethics, again, very convincing, very compelling- Michio Kaku's Physics of the Future, an attempt to envision human life and society a century 50, 70, 100 years from now, based on today's cutting edge research, and man, if even half of the stuff he describes pans out, we will not even recognize the world our great-grandchildren will inhabit- Michael Specter's Denialism about the human propensity for irrational thinking and how damaging it is to our society and planet, including such things as the organic foods fetish, the "natural" medicine fetish, the utterly unfounded fears concerning vaccines, etc., also, very, very good- Nicolas Wade's The Faith Instinct, arguing that a propensity for faith and religious belief must be an evolved trait, since, at first glance, those things are so damaging to an individual, evolution would certainly have weeded them out, if there was not some greater benefit conferred by religious activity, which he manages to convincingly lay out, even though I disagree with some of the conclusions he draws, which I will touch on in a later post- Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum's Unscientific America, outlining the absolutely wretched level of scientific knowledge, and willful ignorance, of the masses in a country which has led the world in scientific advances for the last century, and will continue to do so for at least another half century more, and then articulating a plan for bridging that gap- And last, but certainly not least, Sam Harris' The End of Faith, the book that single-handedly began the New Atheist movement, which I have been intentionally not reading since I started the blog, as I knew he and I intended to cover similar turf, and I had no wish to simply parrot his work. But it is, in fact, Harris' book which I would like to discuss, or at least a small piece of it, in this post.

The End of Faith is a momentous work, by a skilled writer with a Death Star intellect, literally reducing his opponent's arguments to rubble in the span of a single, charged sentence, and with the necessary background to speak knowledgeably about religion, faith and ethics from many perspectives, having built a career in the study of philosophy, Eastern and Western religions, as well as neuroscience. If you have enjoyed anything you have read on this blog on any of these topics, The End of Faith is mandatory reading. As Richard Dawkins said, "The End of Faith is a genuinely frightening book... Read Sam Harris and wake up." (Of course, Harris was the one who inspired Dawkins to himself take up the issue of faith in the modern world in his own books.)

But while I will have something to say a later date about the work as a whole, or pieces of it regarding faith and religion, it is actually Harris' criticism of some another, typically liberal, ideology that I would like to talk about here; specifically, relativism. While this term may not be known to the average reader, it is not all that hard to discern the gist. At the same time, there are quite a few people out there who subscribe to this ideology, even if they would not immediately recognize the appellation. For these reasons, a quick definition would be useful.

Relativism is the belief, very commonly held among academic liberals and many quasi-intellectuals, that no one can ever really be truly right about anything in the strict sense of the word, they can only be "right" within the contexts of their culture and ideology. A moral relativist, for example, would claim that forcing women to live in a potato sack is not actually "wrong" in some absolute sense, it is just "wrong" in our culture, though it is perfectly acceptable in a culture for whom that is their belief and heritage.

Well, if you have been reading this blog at all, you know I don't buy into that cheap nonsense. Having been through the rigmarole of a countless literary theory classes, Derrida, Sassure, Lacan, Zizek, etc. I have a pretty solid understanding of how (bored) academics came to these fairly absurd claims, and I didn't find their arguments convincing then. But when these types of beliefs trickle out of the ivory tower, I think that they are often picked up by some in the general populace simply because they are contradictory to traditional wisdom, or indeed, common sense. In other words, a Tertullian instance of credo quia absurdum, or an "I believe because it is absurd."

I have yet to think deeply about this, or come up with a satisfying explanation as to why, but it has in fact been my observation that certain people tend to latch on to beliefs simply because those beliefs go against the grain. Those people are generally those whose lives also go against the grain- I'm thinking of artists, anarchists, etc. (but those are just examples). This is not meant to be a slight on people who think of themselves as such, but I do find it a little depressing when I see this happen to otherwise intelligent people, since it is really just a cheap intellectual trick to appear thoughtful and profound, without actually doing the hard work that it would take for one of us to be those things. But I digress...

Anyway... what I found interesting in reading Harris was that his book was the first time I encountered in print the refutation of relativism that I myself have been satisfied with for years. I had always considered it odd that in all of the books I have read that discussed relativism, no one had articulated what I consider to be such an obvious and absolute dismissal of relativism. So it was refreshing to see Harris finally articulate it, and in pretty much exactly the same manner I had considered it. It goes like this-

Let's stick with moral relativism, although the same argument applies to relativistic notions of science, knowledge, etc. The moral relativist would claim that we should respect all cultures and belief systems, because we cannot judge them by our own Western standards. If it is part of their culture to saw off their daughter's clitoris, then who are we to tell them that practice is wrong? It is their culture, and their beliefs. In other words, there is no absolute right and wrong, just what each culture comes to accept.

Ah, and there's the rub. The problem with making a claim like this is that it itself is not relative, but absolute. If there is no absolute right and wrong, then who is to say that tolerance of other's beliefs is itself "right?" Sure, a few hundred years of democracy, pluralism and liberalism, among other things, have taught the West that, generally speaking, tolerance of other people's beliefs and culture is a good thing. But it is our cultural bias that makes that seem logical. In other words, tolerance is merely a relative good, but to be a relativist, you have to claim the universal good of relativism, which is clearly a contradiction.

This leaves relativists in a bit of a quagmire. They have two choices, either accept the contradiction, which is effectively saying, "Everyone else's "good" is only relative, but my Good is universal." This not only goes completely against the spirit of relativism, it is as conceited as all hell. In fact, it is hard to imagine a more condescending, patronizing and imperialistic way of viewing the world. (It is true that much of liberalism is imperialism in fancy clothes.) Or they can say something absurd like, "We should only expect Western liberal democrats to be tolerant, since that is only a good in their culture. In cultures where intolerance is considered "good" then it is, in fact, the right way to act." Unfortunately, it is often this latter narrative that plays out in the real world.

So is tolerance a bad thing? Of course not. It is just that it is as absurd, and as quickly self-contradictory, to make "tolerance" the universal good as it is to make the same thing of money, power, faith, reason, science, "mystery," nature or anything else people try to hold aloft. All of these things have some utility, though some far more than others (I'm looking at you, faith, you useless piece of...)

I don't think it takes a rigorous philosophical to demonstrate that tolerance is good. And at the same time, I think it only takes a very brief one (above) to demonstrate that there are, in fact, limits to this. What does this mean in the real world? It looks like that will have to be the subject of the next post.

TANTRA K, HOYO K

2011-11-01T07:47:00.000-07:00

No hay sendero,
no hay ni no hay.

Construye una verdad
y cesará de ser verdad
para ser una construcción de la mente.

No hay escritura, ni tradición,
ni gurú, ni enseñanzas fuera de la mente.

Cuando cese la mente,
sus ideas, sus creencias, sus apegos,

te transformarás,

algo diferente habrá aparecido en tu lugar
y dará igual en lo que hayas creído,
reencarnación, karma, unidad de la vida, espíritu,
positivo, negativo,
vacuidad.

Todas tus ideas serán molidas en el molino de la mente
y después será molido el molino,

sin comienzo ni fin ni palabras
para decir lo que uno quisiera
que pudiesen decir.

En completa soledad
librarás la última batalla
y algo nuevo habrá aparecido en tu lugar,

algo que tendrás que llenar
incluso con la idea
de que hay que abandonar
todas las ideas.

Antonio Orihuela. Todo el mundo está en otro lugar. Ed. Baile del Sol, 2011.

ACTUALIDADES

2011-10-31T01:58:00.000-07:00

Cuando nacimos
ya habían traducido el mundo
en un lenguaje equivocado.
Las cifras estaban destinadas.
Las fórmulas tenían veneno.
Tuvimos que aprender
a respirar debajo del agua
y seguimos esperando
que la piel del tiempo
no nos vuelva locos.
No queremos ser tratantes.
No queremos ser esclavos.
Continuamos una senda de sangre.
No olvidamos de qué está hecho el camino,
no olvidamos.

David Eloy Rodríguez. Poema de Miedo a ser escarcha (uno de los mejores libros de poesía de los noventa) en 65 Salvocheas. Ed. Quorum, 2011.

ÚLTIMAS PALABRAS

2011-10-30T02:31:00.000-07:00

Y será poco
lo que pueda dejaros
en heredad
apenas un futuro balbuceante,
las primeras piedras
de un camino retorcido
que habréis de recorrer solos,
bajo la tormenta,
sin más compañía que la piel ajena
y el dolor del mundo.

Después de tanto
perdonadme
he conseguido vaciarme entero.
Mis bolsills
ya no holgados
soolo guardan las cenizas
de la hoguera
que anunció la guerra.
Os cedo también la antorcha.
Alguien dirá alguna vez
que no os darán miedo las ruinas,
la derrota, incluso la muerte,
porque seréis tantos...

Soñad
con los ojos bien abiertos
soñad
hijos del pueblo
con otro mundo hecho
a la medida del hombre
que se digne de llamarse así.

Soñad y caminad sin mí.
Me he dejado la piel
en la batalla
y puedo morir contento.
Recordame
si acaso
como otro de los más.

Juan Cruz. En 65 Salvocheas. Ed. Quorum, 2011.

DECLARACIÓN DE PRINCIPIOS

2011-10-29T11:39:00.000-07:00

Infelices quienes nunca cayeron;

porque por no caer

nunca se asomaron a la orilla,

infelices.

Infelices quienes nunca sufrieron;

porque por no sufrir

no amaron nunca,

infelices.

Infelices quienes permitieron la injusticia

por tal de no sufrirla

sobre su propia carne,

infelices.

Infelices quienes por no dar nunca

un ápice de sí

se han perdido enteros

como una tierra estéril,

infelices.

Infelices quienes callaron siempre

para que su palabra

no los comprometiera,

infelices.

En tres palabras: infelices,

quienes por egoísmo, no abrieron nunca

de par en par,

la frente,

el corazón

y la palabra.

Pura López Cortés. poema del libro Alacena. En 65 Salvocheas. Ed. Qurorum, 2011.

VERSO LIBRE

2011-10-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

Si la historia no nos hubiese traicionado,
si el presente se pareciera
al futuro que se soñó ayer;
si ondearan las banderas
que nadie tejió.

Si la libertad no fuese una palabra,
si la utopía no hubiera desteñido,
si la dignidad no estuviese en venta.

Si la ternura fuera ley,
si tomáramos ejemplo
de la rebeldía del viento...

quien sabe qué canción
estaríamos cantando.

Fernando Lobo. En 65 Salvocheas. Ed.Qurorum, 2011.
Foto de Juan Sánchez Amorós.

vocesdelextremo

2011-10-27T07:52:00.001-07:00

hello fellow friends from around the world, welcome.

EL ATEÍSMO DE SALVOCHEA

2011-10-27T03:41:00.000-07:00

Entre la cárcel y las rosas de Cádiz

se mueven las ideas de Dios

que nunca llegan a decir las ideas republicanas,

nombres que no salen en los periódicos,

palabras que quedaron en Londres,

en ciudades por las que pasó Bakunin,

con su voz de gigante siberiano,

con su abrigo de película anarquista,

Salvochea no cree en los cuadros del Greco,

ni siquiera en la Vulgata de los latinos,

es hombre de tierra y de fábricas a las espaldas,

como un Kropotkin recorriendo Europa,

Cádiz te recuerda, con tu voz tantas

veces condenada, por tu devoción

al materialismo y a la filosofía atea,
Jean Meslier del siglo XVIII,

para pensar de nada sirven los crucifijos,

y esa manifestaciones tuyas hacia la paz,

sin teología y sin las manos de Jesús,

porque Jesús fue sólo un mito

que en nada ayudó a la lucha obrera,

ya lo dijo el filósofo D'Holbach,

Dios trae sólo hambre,

y tú traías la República y la menta,

el mar y el panorama de los hombres,
65 Salvocheas.
esclavizados por una religión antigua,

que sólo espumaba reliquias

y un Vaticano de piedras duras

y vanidad inconmensurables,

Salvochea, hombre preso,

qué libertad para la Historia,

cómo recordamos tu tos y tu victoria,

tu deconstrucción de los santos

y tu voz colgada de los árboles,

No se puede olvidar así

a un hombre que procede de la lluvia,

a un hombre que no cree en San Juan

ni en los concilios infernales,

pureza libre, bocadillo de Madrid,

cuánto luchaste por la memoria

y por esas señales que vienen de las mujeres,

Has quedado muy bien muerto

sin que Dios te apretara,

te veo con los que sólo creen

en el ruido de los bosques

y en las noches románticas.

poema del inmenso Emilio Arnao en la antología homenaje a Fermín Salvochea. 65 Salvocheas. Ed. Quorum. Cádiz, 2011.

DIOS NUNCA REZA

2011-10-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

...ahora, nos vamos a las afueras de las afueras, a un nuevo barrio de descampados, silletas, bajeras vacías... A eso le llaman progreso, pero nosotros cada vez estamos más lejos. Y hay algo que me inquieta en todo ello...

...son cinco mil viviendas, eso es lo primero, las viviendas, cuando estén todas construídas y vendidas vendrá todo lo demás, el centro de salud, el colegio público, la oficina de correos, la biblioteca... Como si en la ciudad-dormitorio los ciudadanos debieran estar también dormidos, desestructurados, convertirse en pequeña células aisladas sin otras conexiones entre ellos que su hipoteca y la tarjeta del hipermercado...

Patxi Irurzun. Dios nunca reza. Alberdania, 2011.

Nothing Until November

2011-10-25T19:59:00.000-07:00

I have plans for the rest of the week, so no new posts until next month.

On the plus side, my first post will be my Q&A special. If you haven’t asked me a question, feel free to do so here.

LA LUZ DEL NÓMADA

2011-10-25T04:43:00.000-07:00

¿Qué son esos bultos
que arrastras?
Preguntó la rama al río.
-Son cuerpos de hombres
que están en guerra.
A veces solo soy
una gran lágrima.

Luis Ansorena. La luz del nómada. Ediciones La Baragaña, 2011.

CAPITALISMO

2011-10-24T01:57:00.000-07:00

Ganamos una carrera
y el premio es otra carrera.

Tenemos que salir de aquí.

Antonio Orihuela. Todo el mundo está en otro lugar. Ed. Baile del Sol, 2011.

Lee Doren: This is How Bad Our Tax Code Is

2011-10-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

Good news everyone: my computer is back and good as new. And what better way to celebrate than sharing a recent video by Lee Doren (aka: HowTheWorldWorks) which exemplifies everything wrong with our overtly-complicated tax code?

S/T

2011-10-20T02:04:00.000-07:00

El día 19 de enero mi padre cavó sus ajos,
y el día 22, sembró las papas.

Vida de mi padre.

Antonio Orihuela. Perros muertos en la carretera. Ed. Crecida, 1995.

PROBLEMAS DE LA POLÍTICA AUTÓNOMA

2011-10-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

Más allá de cuestines coyunturales, el atractivo perenne de la derecha es que se presenta como... una fuerza de orden. ¿Pero, por qué el orden habría de tener tal atractivo para quienes no pertenecen a la clase dominante?

... cuando cunde el temor a la disolución del orden social, prosperan los llamados al orden. Y la derecha siempre está ahí para ofrecer su mano dura (aunque sean sus propias recetas las que han producido y siguen profundizando el riesgo de la anomia)

Ezequiel Adamovsky. Problemas de la política autónoma. Pensando el pasaje de lo social a lo político. En Democracia radical: entre vínculos y utopías. Ángel Calle Collado Ed. Icaria, 2011.

DEMOCRACIA EN TIEMPOS REVUELTOS (II)

2011-10-18T08:55:00.000-07:00

la condición del mundo contemporáneo: desdén por los derechos humanos, empleo del enemigo como chivo expiatorio que permite la unión en torno a una causa, militarismo, sxismo desenfrenado, medios de comunicación controlados, obsesión con la seguridad nacional, lazos estrechos entre las élites dirigentes y la religión dominante, protección de los poderes corporativos, supresión de las organizaciones obreras, obsesión con el crimen y el castigo, amiguismo y corrupción... elecciones fraudulentas... si las atribuciones económicas y sociales de los estados han reculado al calor de la globalización capitalista, no puede decirse lo mismo, en cambio, de sus potestades en el terreno militar represivo... Así las cosas han proliferado nuevos campos de detención... la población encarcelada también ha crecido... alcanzaba en Estados Unidos en 2005 la cifra de 2.200.000 personas (500.000 en 1980)... un porcentaje solo superado por regímenes como el de Iosif Stalin en la URSS y el de Mao Ze Dong en China. Ojo que también en los estados miembros de la Unión Europea ha crecido significativamente en los últimos decenios el número de personas encarceladas.
En paralelo, se han multiplicado las instancias encargadas de la represión... Se ha registrado una formidable expansión de la seguridad privada, con llamativo botón de muestra en grupos mercenarios organizados como empresas, que a menudo reciben su remuneracióon en forma de minas o pozos petroleros. Más allá de todo lo anterior, los procedimientos de control sobre la población son cada vez más exhaustivos e inquietantes. En el Reino Unido se han desplegado en los últimos años 4.200.000 cámaras -una por cada 14 habitantes-... A ello se suman programas de control de las comunicaciones como Echelon, que cancelan muchas normas legales en vigor.

Carlos Taibo. Democracia en tiempos revueltos. En Democracia radical. Ángel Calle Collado (Ed.) Icaria, 2011.

ASK ME A QUESTION!

2011-10-17T18:52:00.000-07:00

Bad news everyone: my laptop recently came down with a virus and is now in the shop getting fixed. Add the fact that I’m going to be swamped with work this week, and you have someone who isn’t going to be posting on his blog for a while.

But on a sidenote, I recently realized that I have been on DeviantART for two years. So to commemorate this milestone, I’m going to hold a Q&A session. I want all my followers on DeviantART to each ask me two to three questions about anything about myself—provided it’s not too personal (i.e.: Where do you live? What’s your real name?)

So, my faithful minions, ask away! Leave your questions in the comment section below. You all have until the end of the month to submit your questions. And I’m only going to do this if I have more than five submissions (I have over 60 watchers, so no excuses).

UN KOAN OCCIDENTAL

2011-10-17T03:00:00.000-07:00

El ojo con el que yo veo a Dios, es el mismo ojo con el que Dios me ve a mí.

Johannes Eckhart

Foto: Juan Sánchez Amorós

DEMOCRACIA EN TIEMPOS REVUELTOS

2011-10-16T03:09:00.000-07:00

La democracia de la que disfrutamos se halla la servicio de un renacido horizonte de injusticia, desigualdad y explotación... A todo ello se agrega, cómo no, la sumisión que generan los medios de comunicación, en un marco de confiscación del lenguaje. A través de una eficiente maquinaria de propaganda que muy a menudo consigue que los ciudadanos no se percaten de lo que está ocurriendo, se prohíbe decir algo difirente de lo que enuncia el discruso del poder. El resultado es, naturalmente, la cancelación de la crítica y la criminalización de la oposición política... los intelectuales, en su mayoría, emplean su tiempo en glorificar a los regímenes occidentales como regímenes democráticos, tal vez no ideales -no sé lo que esta expresión quiere decir- pero los mejores humanamente realizables, y en afirmar que toda crítica de esa seudodemocracia conduce directamente al Gulag... Esto permite silenciar los candentes problemas del presente: la descomposición de las sociedades occidentales, la apatía, el cinismo, la corrupción política, la destrucción del medio ambiente, la situación de los países pobres...
Se aprovechan coon descaro, en fin,los efectos de la desmovilización general y la precaria conciencia general sobre lo que se avecina.

Carlos Taibo. Democracia en tiempos revueltos. En: Democracia radical: entre vínculos y utopías. Ángel Calle Collado (Ed.). Icaria, 2011.

Pony Saturday: DJ PON3

2011-10-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to yet another Pony Saturday. Finally, a new episode was released today. I was somewhat surprised by the relatively new intro—and by relatively new, I mean they added a train in the background. Also interesting to see Twilight Sparkle endure a mental breakdown, as the rest of the Mane 6 has gone through one last season. And was anyone else reminded of Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask in this episode? Because I was.

The new series may have dynamic, well-rounded characters for its main cast of six, but if anything, the series is equally infamous for its background characters. No surprise there, since others series by Lauren Faust like The PowerPuff Girls and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends are equally infamous for their background characters.

One such character is DJ-PON3, otherwise known as Vinyl Scratch, a hip blue-haired white unicorn with a musical note cutie mark who was featured in the episode Suited For Success as the disk jockey for Rarity’s fashion show. As with other background characters, she has a large fan following.

The following fan videos by MysteryBen27 feature the Mane 6 as DJs:

Apparently, Twilight fails at being a DJ:

Even Derpy Hooves does a better job:

Looks like Twilight needs some lessons from DJ PON3:

On an unrelated note:

So out of the 6 ponies, which would you have as a disk jockey for your party? Leave a comment below.

PREGNANCIA

2011-10-15T03:45:00.000-07:00

Como no explotamos,
implosionamos.

Antonio Orihuela. Todo el mundo está en otro lugar. Ed. Baile del Sol, 2011.

Faith Restored: Chris Savvinidis--A Smart OWS Protester!

2011-10-14T18:34:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned many times before, my faith in humanity has taken a serious nosedive over the past few years. With every passing day, it seems as though America, along with the rest of the world, seems to be losing its mind. But now and then there appears a small silver lining in the cloud that restores what little faith I have. Today, I’ll be highlighting a few of those silver linings.

While they may have their hearts in the right place by protesting the powers that be and screaming ‘we’re not going to take it anymore’, the Occupy Wall Street protesters are mostly clueless, misguided hipsters who haven’t the slightest idea what they’re protesting, let alone whom exactly to protest (hint: take 1-90 south until you reach Washington).

They seem to think that capitalism has failed (even though crony capitalism is to blame), that we need more taxes and regulations (even though the rich already pay their fair share and regulation has already been increasing), and that the government should guarantee $20 minimum wages, forgive all student loans, and offer free healthcare, Internet access, and cell phone service for all while the rich foot the bill (even though that would bankrupt the country more than it already is now).

But among the insane asylum, there has proven to be a few rational individuals who base their beliefs and convictions on logic, reason, and evidence rather than blind socialist ideology.

One such protester is Chris Savvinidis who offered the following motivational speech against the Federal Reserve, fractional banking system, and fiat currency (in other words, the real culprits, not Wall Street).

A whole continent wide cannot control a federal government with a banking system that prints money like its paper. You can’t even call it money anymore. Gold is money. Silver is money. Green dollars are not money. They’re using inflation as a hidden tax to fuck the people. Prices go up. Do your wages go up? No. My wages didn’t go up. But prices went up, gas goes up, milk goes up, trades go up. How am I supposed to live? And this is all because our government prints too much money, starts too much wars, so they can sell their tanks, their guns, their missiles. That’s all America exports is guns, missiles, and tanks. That’s it. We need to bring production back to America. End the Federal Reserve.

His YouTube video has made such an impact, receiving over 95 thousand hits. He's even garnered the attention of media figures like Judge Andrew Napolitano, whom interviewed him in the following appearance on Freedom Watch.

Of course, he's also garnered some negative attention as well. Glenn Beck twisted his words in order to make it seem as though he was attacking capitalism rather than crony capitalism. Here is his reply:

If you’re asking me if I want to end the current system, I do, because that’s crony capitalism. It’s not real capitalism. Government’s hiding behind the name capitalism. What we have in this country are corporations who lobby in millions and millions of dollars to politicians and buy their votes for the highest bids…and Washington no longer speaks for us, they speak for all the big corporations and whoever has the most money.

And when I made the comment about guns, missiles, and tanks, I obviously didn’t mean those were all of the exports. I meant that, in this country, we have a military-industrial complex. We have over 700 bases in 150 countries. So, and this all stems back to having an elastic currency. Congress has this idea that they can keep spending trillions of dollars on these wars because they can keep printing money to fund it. But what they’re really doing is debasing our currency and driving prices up and the power of the people is going down, and that’s what really everyone should be upset about.

Amen, Chris. If we had more protesters like him, we could really fight against the real problems in this country.

Feel free to visit his website What About Liberty?, his Twitter account, and Facebook page.

Restored Faith: The 53%

2011-10-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned many times before, my faith in humanity has taken a serious nosedive over the past few years. With every passing day, it seems as though America, along with the rest of the world, seems to be losing its mind. But now and then there appears a small silver lining in the cloud that restores what little faith I have. Today, I’ll be highlighting a few of those silver linings.

Occupy Wall Street claims to represent the 99% of Americans, and boasts of diversity among its ranks—even though the lions share of protesters are anti-capitalist libtarded moonbats making wild demands like $20 minimum wages, the forgiveness of all student loans, and free healthcare, cell phone and internet service for all while the greedy 1% (which already pays 40% in total income tax) foot the bill.

But a new website proves that not every American has lost their minds. The website, created by filmmaker Michael Wilson, highlights the 53% of Americans who pay federal income tax, as opposed to the 47% who don’t. These Americans do not blame the banks or capitalism for our problems, and they do not hypocritically ask for handouts while decrying the bank bailouts; instead, they take personal responsibility for their own actions.

Personal responsibility: an American value that has been sorely discarded in this age of entitlement where Americans sue McDonalds for making them fat, or call 911 when they can’t get the right order, or in the case of the banks, ask for bailouts when their businesses go sour due to their own poor decision making. Let’s hope that more Americans reclaim this value—and soon: our nation can no longer survive with its citizens hands' outstretched.

Here are some of the inspiring photos from the site:

Restored Faith: End The Fed Rallies

2011-10-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

DESPERTARES: QUIEN LO PROBÓ, LO SABE

2011-10-14T02:00:00.000-07:00

Para el Despertado no sólo el universo nocturno es un fenómeno-sueño, sino que también lo es el de la vigilia, el que generalmente es reconocido como real-absoluto.

Upanisads
Foto de Juan Sánchez Amorós

Crowder Slams Wall Street Hippies

2011-10-13T21:51:00.000-07:00

Steven Crowder just released a video about Occupy Wall Street. He wanted to interview some protesters at his local Occupy Dallas, but could only find a single End the Fed libertarian conspiracy nut who thought the government was poisoning our food, water, and vaccines (even I can’t stand these types of libertarians).

He then proceeded to succinctly eviscerate the talking points and demands of the OWS protesters. (I especially loved how he used Ben And Jerry as an example of how capping the salaries of top employees, like other moonbat ideas, does more harm than good.)

Listen, I hate crony capitalism more than anybody, especially the Wall Street and bank bailouts, but if we want to talk about politicians being corrupted, why aren't we talking unions?...So why aren't these Occupiers protesting things like the UAW, the teacher's unions, or even places like Solyndra? Oh, of course! Maybe because they're supporting this movement through money and manpower. But that couldn't be because they want to throw Americans off the scent of the real string pullers, could it?

Amen, Crowder.

I love how libtarded moonbats decry the Tea Party as astroturf because groups like FreedomWorks and Americans For Prosperity support the movement, yet Occupy Wall Street is still considered a grassroot movement even when unions start supporting it. But what else can you expect from libtards but hypocrisy?

Molyneux: Do Not Be Distracted By The Corporations!

2011-10-13T17:27:00.000-07:00

Stefan Molyneux reads and dissects the General Assembly Declaration of Occupy Wall Street, but not without first reminding the protesters that, although their protests are noble, they are futile if they do not aim at the right target, which in his case is the state, not the corporations.

If you’re frightened of a shark, there’s no point trying to bat away the little pilot fish, you know, that swim under its mouth and pick up the scraps of whatever it tears into. The truth of the matter is that the corporations are like the pilot fish. They swim around the jaws of the shark of the state, and they pick up the bloody scraps of whatever it maws down upon.

And do not be distracted by the corporations. To continue my fishy metaphors, they are like the anglerfish that has that bright light that the fish go and swim up to and…it eats them. Do not be distracted by the corporations. They are the beneficiaries, not the source of the destruction running rampant through the world.

Nostalgia Critic's Mental Breakdown

2011-10-13T14:28:00.000-07:00

The Nostalgia Critic recently released his review of The Haunting, the 1999 remake of the classic 1963 psychological thriller. He explicates that, despite its enhanced visuals, the remake is far inferior to the original—and by inferior, he means “it’s one of the worst remakes of all time, if not the worst!” As is per usual in his reviews, he elaborates with zany over-the-top humor. By the end of the review, he goes into a raging childlike temper tantrum, imitating the director by claiming how the remake, with its emphasis on special effects over basic story elements, is clearly for grown-ups, unlike the original.

I have to say that this performance is by far his best, even topping that of the Bat Credit Card!

LA DERROTA

2011-10-13T02:51:00.000-07:00

Están pidiendo más flexibilidad laboral,
más ajustes antisociales, más petróleo,
más goles, más sangre,

lo que nadie quiere es otro poeta,
a este mundo podrido le seguirán sobrando
mientras continúen escribiendo poemas
en los que no vive nadie.

Así que, ante el panorama general de la literatura,
apago la televisión que es lo único que está lleno de gente,

os dejo a todos ahí abajo,

me subo a disfrutar de mi siesta,
con mi carnet de afiliado sindical en el bolsillo,
con mi mandíbula crispada por la lucha de clases,
con mi mirada de azul acero
que ha hecho temblar a tanto patrón hijoputa.

Subo a disfrutar de mi siesta,
entre la crisis, las reestructuraciones, los cierres
y la terciarización de la vida.

Subo a disfrutar de mi siesta,
voy a cobijarme del frío con un manto de plomo, amor,
voy a evaporarme como se evaporó un día el proletariado.

Voy a laminarme como se laminó un día el pobretariado
de este barrio en peligro de exclusión consumista
y refinanciación hipotecaria.

Ya subo, sí, ya subo murmurando mi viejo mantra:

-generosidad, frugalidad, solidaridad…

qué bellas y extrañas palabras tiene el sánscrito, el tibetano
o la que sea esta rancia lengua somnolienta
desde la que os veo salir de casa con prisas, mal almorzados,
con la navaja del despido en la garganta,
con la cabeza gacha esperando el veredicto
del consejo de administración.

Mientras bajo la persiana hasta donde es más oscura la oscuridad,
los escucho hablar de más flexibilidad,
más ajustes, más petróleo, más goles, más sangre,
y vosotros creéis que hablan de vuestra felicidad
cuando en realidad están hablando de vuestro miedo.

¡Pobre pobretariado!, desaparecisteis.

Desde que los ricos también lloran
ya ni siquiera formáis parte del elenco del arte lacrimógeno,
palestinos, iraquíes, mujeres, toros y ballenas maltratadas
os sustituyeron con ventaja.

¡Pobre pobretariado!,
ni piercing, ni hip-hop, ni MDMA,
ni squash, ni surf, ni vela,

lo más hablar de fútbol, beber cubatas,
decir que estáis hasta los cojones de la política
y a continuación votar a la ultraderecha.

Adiós proletariado,
adiós obreritos un día peligrosos, ayer gente de cuidado,
me echo a dormir que tú tienes trabajo,

voy a soñar y a afilarme los dientes,
trata de alcanzarme.

Antonio Orihuela. Todo el mundo está en otro lugar. Ed. Baile del Sol, 2011.
Fotografía: Juan Sánchez Amorós

Survey Shows OWS Protesters Are Batshit Insane!

2011-10-12T14:41:00.000-07:00

Let me be perfectly clear: I do not hate the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

I understand their frustration over the problems we're facing, and their urge to protest the powers that be over it. Yet I find them to be rather clueless about what they are protesting, misguided about whom they are protesting, and naive about the demands and solutions they are peddling.

To prove my point, I present the following survey conducted by Addicting MisInfo—er, I mean Addicting Info, which highlights the beliefs and demands of these protesters. And don’t get me wrong, I believe that these protesters have nothing but good intentions, but if good intentions pave the road to hell, than these good intentions will send us to hell in a henbasket!

•80% of those polled said that the rich should pay higher taxes and that it’s fair that approximately the top 10% of tax payers pay more than 70% of the taxes in the US and about 40% of employed people pay no income tax.

Oh great. More “Tax the Rich” nonsense. I’ve already covered why this is nonsense in Top 10 Economic Myths—Busted!, so I’m not repeating myself here.

•93% say that student loan debt should be forgiven

So let me get this straight: most of these protesters attended college, knowing that it would cost them money, so they take student loans in order to pay for it; and when they have to pay these loans back, they want the government to bail them out because they can’t pay it all back. I’m sorry, isn’t it hypocritical to protest bailouts while demanding bailouts at the same time.

Look, I understand where they’re coming from: they graduated during a recession and there are no jobs, and thus no way to pay back their loans. This is understandable. But even if these loans are forgiven, how do you expect them to be paid back? Let me guess: just have the rich foot the bill with higher taxes. Of course!

•98% believe that health care should be free

Let’s get one thing straight here: there is no such thing a free! Ultimately, someone has to pay for it, be it yourself or someone else. If you don’t pay for your own healthcare, then someone else does; and with socialized medicine (which is really what they’re talking about), it’s the taxpayer, which means higher taxes for everyone, and that benefits no one, especially during a recession when most Americans are barely making enough to get by as it is.

But of course, we can always raise taxes on the rich and have them foot the bill. The top 1% obviously don’t pay enough when they pay 40% of the nation’s total income and 26% of the total tax burden.

•98% believe that Insurance companies make too much money and some of their profits should be taken to pay for more healthcare for others

Wait. 98% want free healthcare, yet they also want insurance companies to pay more for people’s healthcare? Well, which is it? Do they want “free” public healthcare or “free” private healthcare? Can’t have it both ways.

•95% believe that drug prices should be controlled

Of course! Because price controls worked out perfectly for the banks. After all, it was because the Dodd-Frank Law through the Durbin Amendment required price controls on debit card transactions that banks were required to compensate by levying debit card fees onto the consumers. What did I say about good intentions?

•32.5% think the government will do a bad job managing healthcare

Holy shit! Do my eyes deceive me? Are there people with common sense at these protests? You mean some protesters think the government running healthcare will actually be just as good as the government running the post office? I need to look out my window. I think I heard a pig fly by!

•44% believe that instead of spending money on ObamaCare, we should spend it on jobs today, while 30% believe that we should do both, and 27% say ObamaCare was fine use of money

Well at least some protesters don’t like Obamacare, even though they think the money will be better spent creating jobs—something the government cannot do, other than create government jobs, which mean higher taxes to pay for them. But hey, we only have the foot the bill to the greedy rich, right?

•88% agree with the statement that “The government should put some controls on CEO pay – like limited to 20x or 30x the lowest paid employee.”

And I thought the $20 minimum wage was crazy enough.

•93% believe that communications like cell phone and internet access be a right and not just reserved for the rich and we should have free internet and cell phone service as a national goal.

Cell phone and internet access a right? Free speech is a right. Religious freedom is a right. Privacy is a right. Trial by jury is a right. Voting is a right. Cell phone and internet access is a good. They’re items other people create with their own labor and provide for others. Judge Andrew Napolitano explained this concept best.

And how are cell phones and internet reserved for the rich? Last time I checked, even those living in poverty can afford a cell phone with some internet access. In fact, most of the luxuries we all enjoy today, from air conditioning to color television to cars to computers, we all once only affordable for the rich, but because living standards rose, so did prices, allowing even the poor among us to afford them. The rich are getting richer, but so are the poor, and at a faster rate no less!

And once again, if we have “free” internet and cell phone service for all, who’s going to foot the bill? Oh yes, the evil good-for-nothing-rich! Why did I bother asking?

•54% do not believe that the Obama stimulus program was a good idea.

Horray! More than half of the protesters have common sense!

•84% said they think that if a bank decides to implement a $5 debit card fee, the government should not allow it, while 16% said let them do what they want – customers can move.

I already explained why banks were forced to implement these debit card fees in the first place. Please refer to my earlier remark on price controls.

And those are their demands: they want free education, healthcare, and cell phone and internet service, and they want to foot the bill to the rich while the poor and middle class don’t work. Sure. Okay. I’ll give such a society a good week until it implodes upon itself from an economic collapse.

This is why I can’t take these protesters seriously. It’s not that I don’t want to live in their fantasy world of free healthcare and education and sunshine and lollipops and unicorns and fairies, it’s that, unlike them, I actually realize that such a world is just that—a fantasy with no basis in reality. And during this economic crisis, what we need are real solutions, not just pipe dreams about a socialist utopian la-la land.

Top 10 Economic Myths--BUSTED! Pamphlet

2011-10-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

Top 10 Economic Myths BUSTED by ~BlameThe1st on deviantART

The pamphlet version of my Top 10 Economic Myths—Busted! essay.

Click here to download the PDF file. Requires an inkjet printer to print. For printing instruction, check your printer’s instruction manual.

Feel free to print a few copies and share them with others. Offer them to family, friends, and colleagues—especially those with socialist or Keynesian tendencies. Leave them in public places such as restrooms, gas stations, restaurants, hotels, or wherever. If you’re able, pass them out to protesters at your local Occupy Wall Street protest. Remember, the more people we can inform and the more minds we can change, the sooner we can fix the economy with real solutions, and a better place the world will be

COMEDIAS POLÍTICAS Y TRAGEDIAS HUMANAS

2011-10-12T04:13:00.000-07:00

Cuando muchos de los soldados no catalanes hemos pedido a gritos a Miravitlles que hablara a sus paisanos en catalán, no era por pura cortesía, sino porque muy hondo sentíamos el respeto y el cariño a cuanto compone la trama espiritual de aquel pueblo. Las incomprensiones que han existido entre nosotros nunca han sido de pueblo a pueblo, sino de Estado a pueblo, de un Estado que hemos padecido los catalanes por una parte y por otra los castellanos, y quién sabe a cuál de los dos le tocó la mayor.

Vicente Salas Viu. Diario de guerra de un soldado. 1937.

David Duke, Sarah Palin, and Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-11T17:58:00.000-07:00

You have to wonder how the libtarded moonbats at the Daily Kos have the mental cognition to write their screeds, let alone turn on their own computers to do so. Heck, I wonder how they manage to survive on a day-to-day basis. You’d think they would eventually mistake a glass of arsenic for milk, considering how mentally deficient they are.

Think that’s too harsh? Consider the following blog post comparing former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin to Klansman-turned-politician David Duke:

Sarah Palin made it official this week, choosing the life of a grifter over one of public service. Sorry, fans, but there will be no mama grizzly moving into the White House in 2013 (much to the relief of the janitorial staff). Palin says she says she turned to the Lord to help guide her decision, but bowed out when the machine kept picking up. (And on the 8th day, God installed Caller ID.) But fear not! For those of you still pinin' for the ultimate in batshittyness in the 2012 campaign, there may still be hope. I remembered today that one person who said he was thinking about running is David Duke. In fairness, though, the two have some slight differences. For instance, Palin likes to "go rogue," while Duke prefers to "go robe."

“Slight Differences”? Good grief! Where do I begin?

While it is true that Palin has been considered the mother of the Tea Party, while Duke has voiced his support for the movement, any real analysis of the two will clearly reveal that they’re different as black and white.

For example, Duke opposes Israel; Palin supports it. Duke believes the Jews control the media; Palin does not. Duke denies the holocaust; Palin does not. Duke believes that the white race is being exterminated through “white genocide”; Palin does not.

In fact, if one really thinks about it, David Duke has more in common with the Occupy Wall Street protesters than he does with Palin and the Tea Party.

Think about it!

Though the protests are an amorphous entity with no real clear motive, they have, in due time, voiced their various grievances: they oppose the wars being waged overseas, the trillion dollar bank bailouts, the outsourcing of jobs through free trade, the influence of money over politics, and the corporate control of the media.

Well, guess who else opposes all of that? That’s right: David Duke.

Last year, Duke released his video presidential platform, in which he promised that, as president, he would immediately withdraw American troops overseas and stop America’s foreign policy from being dictated by Israel (wonder how many of the protesters support statehood for Palestine?); he would end corporate welfare for the international "robber banks," which he claims controls our fiscal policy, and which have stolen trillions of dollars from the American taxpayer; he would protect American companies and jobs by ending free trade and outsourcing; he would institute publically-financed elections through campaign finance reform, thereby preventing corporate special interests from bribing politicians; and he would break-up the media conglomerates that control the media by creating a new “Free Network” that allows everyone to have their voices heard.

Now don’t get me wrong: I’m not seriously arguing that the OWS protesters are exactly like David Duke. That would be just a ludicrous as comparing Sarah Palin to him. Clearly, anyone can take a few fuzzy similarities between two people and conclude that they’re both exactly the same. But that doesn’t mean they are. Too bad the Daily Kossacks can’t figure that out.

Libtarded Protests Hurt Liberals, Says Liberal

2011-10-11T10:10:00.000-07:00

Remember in my last post where I mentioned how Lee Doren loved the Occupy Wall Street protesters because they revealed how batshit insane libtarded moonbats are? Well, apparently some sensible liberals (yes, apparently, they do exist) realize this, and they don’t want the class warriors protesting Wall Street to represent them.

The following article from Addicting MisInfo (excuse me, Addicting Info) explains why the protests will do more harm than good for the Left (which, in my opinion, and that of Doren, is a good thing):

I find it troublesome. It’s a liberal’s nightmare, in my opinion – to fall on the side of the protesters means supporting the movement as a whole, including those who are in fact making this protest a referendum on President Obama, those who are touting the unrealistic concept of full socialism, those who are touting an agenda with utopic demands that has no real likelihood of changing anything, those who dress up like zombies. One can like the message and still find the messenger unappealing, at best. But to fail to support the movement is (in progessives’ eyes, anyway) a step too far out of the tent. My friend said that the protests are largely a bunch of socialists thinking this is their Revolution – perhaps it’s closer to that than anything else. I’m admittedly clueless.

Whatever the case, I’m disappointed to learn the left-wing tent, in some ways, is turning out to be as small as the right-wing tent. My failure to jump on the Occupy Wall Street bandwagon – or any offshoot of it that rolls by – is a referendum on my commitment to liberal and/or progressive causes. Shame.

I’ve been lectured too many times in recent days about the way protests evolve – they start out messy, begin to focus, find some leadership, find a message, and boom, it’s a movement. But what if the OWS protests remain in the messy stage, and show no signs of ever moving on to Stage II? In my mind, for a movement such as this one to have any chance of success, some key elements have to land on the table: A clear, specific mission and a common goal; a plan, and an ending point; a strategy to back up the plan; tangible action to put the strategy into play; and some form of leadership. Rudderless protests are nothing more than a congregation of semi-like-minded thinkers muddling about and diluting any real message.

...

I’m not even sure we’ve identified a clear enemy here, except the looming invocation of “Wall Street” and “Big Banks” . . . with a little “Stop the War,” “Aid the 99′ers,” and “Student Loan Forgiveness” thrown in. The protest seems ephemeral, non-durable. I don’t find myself moved by it or interested in it, and I find myself fearing it and, consequently, having an aversion to it – because this could be the wedge the right has been waiting for to direct the independents, the fence-riding voters, to a camp that looks more organized, more systematic, more pragmatic and less splintered.

Although the Occupy Wall Street protesters show all signs of being in for the long haul, time is not infinite: Everyone grows weary of the same old, same old, and this protest won’t be any different. If they can’t unify around a common, concrete, realistic goal quickly – and come up with a plan to accomplish it – Occupy Wall Street runs the risk of being another bit of liberal posturing. We’ve wasted a boatload of energy on something that gets us nowhere before. We can’t afford that now.

Zaunstar Doesn’t Get It!

2011-10-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

Wouldn’t you know it: the day after I publish my Top 10 Economic Myths—Busted! blog post, someone on YouTube releases a video espousing one of those economic myths.

If you recall, I featured Zaunstar in a previous blog post. Even though I disagree with him theologically and politically, I do find him to be very intelligent, and his soft-spoken yet smarmy demeanor allows me to respect our differences in opinion.

That said, I was gravely disappointed when, in his most recent video, he spouted the following strawman argument:

Today’s Republicans have stretched liberty to mean that the wealthy shouldn’t have to pay higher taxes at all!

*sigh* No, Zaunstar, that is NOT what Republicans—or conservatives or libertarians or capitalists or anyone who has seriously studied the data behind taxes, especially studies from the Congressional Budget Office or Tax Policy Center—mean when they argue against higher taxes on the rich. It’s not that we don’t want the rich to pay higher taxes, it’s that—and I know this will come as a shock to you—THEY ALREADY PAY MORE THAN THEIR FAIR SHARE IN TAXES!

This is why I wrote Top 10 Economic Myths—Busted!: because talking points like “the rich don’t pay their fair share” and “deregulation destroyed the economy” and “the rich are getting rich, and the poor are getting poorer” keep spreading like wildfire despite all the evidence to the contrary. But then again, you know what Goebbels said: If you tell a falsehood long enough, it eventually becomes the truth.

And that’s what at stake here: the truth. This isn’t about the rich versus the poor—heck, it’s not even about liberty versus tyranny, this is about knowledge versus ignorance; and unfortunately, ignorance is winning.

I know hatred for the rich sounds comforting, that those with money are easy to blame—especially during harsh economic times, that suggesting that we can fix all our economic problems just by demanding more taxes from the wealthy sounds like a good idea; but the stark reality is that it just doesn’t fly with reality.

I’m going to send Zaunstar a link to my blog post. Hopefully, being the intelligent guy that he is, he would be susceptible to some logic, reason, and evidence—and maybe that will change his mind. Because that’s what we need right now: changed minds!

LA EXPLOSIÓN

2011-10-11T01:59:00.000-07:00

De entre toda la palabrería
de autoconsumo pseudorrevolucionario,
me molesta, sobre todo,
cuando me dicen que soy una subjetividad.

No sé qué cojones de pasividad
hay en ese término,
no lo entiendo,
prefiero ser una intensidad,
una pasión,
un goce que estalla
o que podría estallar,
volver a comenzar,
dejar la resistencia pasiva,
el exilio interior,
la supervivencia…

podría volver a comenzar lo inaudito,
lo excepcional,
lo que nunca ocurrió podría llegar

en el ahora

cuando la sociedad
no es más que un argumento
con que justifican sus desmanes
los que dicen representarla,

en el ahora

cuando el movimiento obrero
no es más que un instrumento del Estado
para la desactivación de los trabajadores,

ahora

que la violencia estatal
se ha vuelto preventiva,

ahora

que la magistratura y la policía
hablan del derecho de injerencia
y los médicos de psiquiatrización
y medicamentosis social.

Nuestro tiempo es el ahora:

estallar

aquí

ahora

en donde estamos,
en el nombre de un vivir
que no tiene nombre
sino común presencia
de su cumplimiento,

aquí,

ahora,

cuando somos presencia,

desde abajo,
en lo local de esta globalización acabada,

estallar

anónimos, cualquieras, indistintos,

estallar en archipiélagos, constelaciones, colectivos,
cuerpos y cuerpos en acelerada e invisible circulación
de afectos conspirativos,
de ternura crítica que celebra

la huelga humana,

el fin del trabajo alienado,
el fin de las víctimas,
el fin de la guerra que nos hace

el Capital.

Vamos, volar no es imposible,
aquí,
ahora

estallar.

Antonio Orihuela. Todo el mundo está en otro lugar. Ed. Baile del Sol, 2011.

Top 10 Economic Myths—BUSTED!

2011-10-10T14:28:00.000-07:00

“Tax the rich! They don’t pay their fair share!”

“The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer!”

“Bush killed the economy with massive deregulation! We need more regulation!”

“Beware! The Koch Brothers are transforming this country into neo-feudalism! We’re all going to become wage slaves to our corporate feudal lords!”

Everywhere I go on the internet, I keep running into the same trite economic talking points. Not that these talking points are hard to debunk (on the contrary, they’re easily debunked), but that they keep popping up time and again, and I get sick and tired of debunking them each and every time. So, to do myself and everyone else a service, I have compiled a list of the top ten economic myths, followed by the truth:

Myth #1: The rich don’t pay their fair share in taxes

According to popular misconception, the rich (especially the richest one percent) pay little to nothing in taxes while the middle class and poor carry the brunt of the tax burden. This is hardly the case! The richest one percent pays roughly 40 percent of the country’s total income tax¹ and nearly 28 percent of the total tax burden,² while the top 10 percent pay 60 percent of the total income tax and roughly 57 percent of the total tax burden. In contrast, the bottom 2 percent pays less than 3 percent in total income tax and less than a fraction of a percent of the total tax burden. If the rich don’t pay their fair share in taxes, it’s because they clearly pay more, not less.

Myth #2: Taxing the rich will solve all our problems

Let’s set aside the fact that the rich do pay their fair share in taxes and insist they pay more. Let’s go one step further and suggest confiscating all of their wealth. (After all, filmmaker Michael Moore claims America isn’t really broke: the rich have plenty of money and they’re hoarding it all to themselves!³) If we took all the wealth from the four hundred billionaires in America, we would have $1.3 trillion; subtract that from the $1.6 trillion national deficit, and we would still be short $300 billion—in other words, we would have barely enough to dent our $14 trillion national debt!⁴ Taxing the rich would solve nothing!

Myth #3: The rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer

One of the main criticisms against capitalism is that it allows the rich to get richer while the poor get poorer. While wealth disparity has increased between the rich and poor, as the top income earners have a larger share of national income than they had in the past, while the bottom have a smaller share, income mobility still allows both the rich and poor to get richer overtime—in fact, the poor has been getting richer at a faster rate than the rich! The average salary for those in the bottom 20% in 1975 had increased by over $27 thousand by 1991, while the salary for those in the top 20% only increased by over $4 thousand.⁵ The rich are getting richer, but so are the poor, and at a faster rate than the rich!

Myth #4: New Deal spending ended the Great Depression

Left-wing politicians and economists suggest increasing government spending in order to end the economic crisis, and they point to the New Deal to support their argument, claiming that it helped end the Great Depression. But history tells a different story. Even though government spending increased under the New Deal, unemployment remained above 15 percent during the 1930s.⁶ As FDR's own U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr. said, “We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work...after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started.” Moreover, in order to pay for this spending, federal taxes were tripled from $1.6 billion in 1933 to $5.3 billion in 1940, hurting both consumers and businesses.⁷ New Deal spending did nothing to end the Depression and everything to prolong it

Myth #5: Bush deregulated the economy

Another popular misconception is that massive deregulation, especially under George W. Bush, caused the economic crisis. In reality, regulation has been increasing over the past several decades.⁸ Investor’s Business Daily claims that over three thousand new regulations are enacted every year, and that “a new federal rule hits the books roughly every 2 hours.”⁹ The EPA alone has increased their federal regulations from over 7 thousand rules in 1976 to over 169 thousand in 2009.¹⁰ As for Bush, who’s admitted to have “abandoned the free market,”¹¹ his administration increased the number of new pages in the Federal Register from over 64 thousand in 2001 to over 78 thousand in 2007.¹² This record achievement makes him the biggest regulator since Richard Nixon!

Myth #6: Deregulation created the economic crisis

Since regulation has been increasing, it is impossible for deregulation to have caused our current economic crisis; in fact, it was one piece of regulation that helped create it. The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 required banks to lend loans to individuals from low-income areas. In other words, banks were required to give loans to poor people to buy houses they couldn’t afford, thus aiding in the housing bubble, along with its inevitable burst when these people couldn’t pay back their loans. While the CRA may not have been the main cause of the economic crisis, it did play an underlying role in its inception.

Myth #7: Big business lobbies against regulation

Since big business is obviously at odds with government, one would think that food companies would oppose stricter food safety laws, oil companies would oppose clean air regulation, and tobacco companies would oppose regulation on tobacco and tobacco advertising; yet Kraft Foods,¹³ General Motors, and Phillip Morris¹⁴ have all spent millions lobbying for the exact opposite! So why would businesses lobby for more regulation? Think about it! If you were a large multinational corporation, which would you prefer: an even-playing field where everyone (including your competition) has an equal chance to succeed or fail, or one where you can bribe the state to tilt the field in your favor while crushing your competition and preventing new contenders from getting started? The answer seems quite simple.

Myth #8: The market cannot regulate itself

We are expected to believe that, without government regulatory agencies such as the FDA or EPA, businesses would be left unchecked and release unsafe products. This is not the case, as there are several regulatory agencies not run by the government. One example is Underwriters Laboratories, a non-profit organization which, for over a century, has been testing the safety of products including hair dryers, televisions, Christmas lights, fire extinguishers, air conditioners, ATMs, etc. Any product that doesn’t have its seal of approval is not carried by any of the major realtors. This is all done without the slightest of government intervention. According to the Mises Institute, "Many government regulations, especially at the state level, merely mimic…[those] of the Lab."¹⁵

Myth #9: The Koch Brothers are taking over America!

David and Charles Koch, both whom have spoken out against big business,¹⁶ have been accused of buying politicians in order to transform America into a plutocracy. In reality, their company Koch Industries has only donated over $9 million in political contributions over the past 30 years, ranking them as 85th of the top political donors in America.¹⁷ Of the top ten political donors, six are labor unions including the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (over $45 million), the Service Employees International Union (over $37 million), the National Education Association (over $36 million), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (over $33 million), the Laborers Union (over $31 million), and the American Federation of Teachers (over $31 million). If we have to worry about anyone buying politicians, it’s clearly not the Kochs!

Myth #10: Free Market Capitalism has failed

A free market, as its name implies, is one which is free of state intervention and control. Under a free market, there are no bailouts to companies considered “too big to fail.” There are no subsidies to oil companies and large farms. There are no corporations lobbying for regulations to tilt the playing field in their favor and crush their competition. There are no politicians bribed to pass legislation in favor of special interest groups. In short, America does not have free market capitalism, but rather “crony” capitalism, or corporatism.

Endnotes

1. Historical Effective Federal Tax Rates: 1979 to 2005. (Congressional Budget Office, Dec 2007)
2. “Table T07-0294 - Distribution of Federal Taxes Under Pre-EGTRRA Individual Income and Estate Tax Law, By Cash Income Percentiles, 2007.” (Tax Policy Center, Aug 2007)
3. America Is Not Broke. Michael Moore. (Huffington Post, Mar 2011)
4. Michael Moore’s National Resources. Mary Katharine Ham. (Daily Caller, Mar 2011)
5. Data overlook upward mobility. Steven G. Horwitz. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jan 2011)
6. New Data, Same Result: New Deal Never Solved Unemployment. Conn Carroll. (Heritage Foundation, Jan 2009)
7. How FDR's New Deal Harmed Millions of Poor People. Jim Powell. (CATO Institute, Dec 2009)
8. Ten Thousand Commandments 2011: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State. Clyde Wayne Crews. (Competitive Enterprise Institute, Apr 2011)
9. Regulation Without Representation. Clyde Wayne Crews and Ryan Young. (Investor's Business Daily, Feb 2011)
10. Environment and Strategy Update. William L. Kovacs. (Environment & Energy Committee, May 2011).
11. Bush says sacrificed free-market principles to save economy. (Breitbart, Dec 2008)
12. Bush's Regulatory Kiss-Off. Veronique de Rugy. (Reason Magazine, Jan 2009)
13. Millions Spent Lobbying Food Safety. Laurel Curran. (Food Saftey News, Aug 2010)
14. Big Business and Big Government. Timothy P. Carney. (CATO Institute, Jul 2006)
15. What Keeps Us Safe? Mark Thornton. (Mises Daily, May 2009)
16. Why Koch Industries Is Speaking Out. Charles Koch. (Wall Street Journal, Mar 2011)
17. Top All-Time Donors, 1989-2012. (OpenSecrets, Apr 2011)

Sesame Street: Growing Hope Against Hunger

2011-10-10T12:40:00.000-07:00

Sesame Street aired a primetime special on PBS last night called “Growing Hope Against Hunger” which addressed the problem of hunger in the United States, especially among children. The hour-long special introduced a new Muppet character, Lily, whose family struggles during these tough economic times with hunger. The special, featuring the talents of Brad and Kimberly Williams Paisley, helped share ways that children and family could help such as donating to food banks and helping grow community gardens. It also featured stories of real-life families having to overcome the obstacles of poverty and hunger.

I found the special both entertaining and inspiring. (Yes, I actually watched it!) It’s hard to imagine that, even in a developed country such as ours, there are Americans who still suffer through starvation. Though I’d like to think that most of this is due to the economic crisis, and that it will improve once the economy does, the fact still remains that there are still Americans out there who can’t enough, if anything, to eat.

This special really motivates one to do something. Of course, when I say do something, I don’t mean support entitlement programs. We’re not going to solve our problems by sitting on our rumps and just handing our taxpayer money over to Uncle Sam in hopes that he will do something for us. I mean getting off our rumps and actually doing something! In the words of JFK: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your county.”

Fortunately, Sesame Workshop’s webpage Food For Thought offers resources on how Americans can help. One of the sites featured is Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. Use the site’s Food Bank locator to find a local food bank near you.

Lee Doren: I Want Occupy Wall Street "To Be Face Of The Left"

2011-10-10T12:29:00.000-07:00

Anyone who follows my blog will tell that I don’t care for the Occupy Wall Street protesters. Not that I have anything against protesting the powers that be, just with misguided, clueless Marxists who protest the wrong people for the wrong reason, let alone those who don’t know what they’re protesting to being with.

Lee Doren (aka: HowTheWorldWorks), on the other hand, seems to like the protests.

No. Our favorite conservative YouTube intellectual hasn’t gone socialist on us. He likes the protests because they reveal the sheer batshit insanity of libtarded moonbats for all of America to see.

I want the Left to come out and tell everyone what they believe. I want them to openly say that they are against capitalism. I want them to say that they are against greedy people who take too much of the money. I want them out in the public like they are in some of the videos. This one video was really sickening: a guy attacking an older Jewish man basically saying “Give me your money!” I want all of these people all out in a row….I want these people to be the face of the Left, I want them to be the face of the Democratic party, I want them to be the face of Barack Obama. I want Barack Obama to say “This is my base,” because he’s not going to win that way.

Drinking With Bob: Occupy Wall Street is a JOKE...

2011-10-10T11:31:00.000-07:00

Everyone’s favorite drunk Drinking With Bob rants about the clueless, misguided protesters at Occupy Wall Street.

I believe he describes the protests best: “[They’re] the equivalent of getting drunk by yourself on a Tuesday afternoon…It’s like me holding up this [blank] piece of paper and asking you ‘what do you think of my drawing?’ There’s nothing there!”

ZOMBIS NAZIS

2011-10-10T03:30:00.000-07:00

Los zombis no sólo llenan las pantallas,
también las casas, las calles y los centros comerciales
están llenos de zombis

solitarios, angustiados, desconsolados,
taciturnos, inconscientes, maquinales,
envueltos zombis en sus harapos de última moda,
balbuceando palabras podridas por el dinero,
alargando sus brazos en pos de la mercancía,

todos los zombis juntos
hacia la gran nada prometida por los creativos del fingimiento,

con una sola idea en la cabeza,
un solo objetivo,

millones de zombis tambaleantes camino del mercado,

pero

como en las películas, también en el mundo real
sobreviven pequeñas células resistentes,

asamblearias,
organizadas,

ellas intentan lo imposible en el mundo de los zombis,

romper el silencio,
reconocer al otro,
constituirse,
movilizarse,

vivir en la palabra horizonte, tibieza, encuentro,
juego, laberinto, grieta, sueño,
amanecer

junto a vosotros,

en el tiempo de los zombis,

pero

nunca más solos

de vínculos,
de afectos,
de la sombra gratis de los árboles.

Antonio Orihuela. Todo el mundo está en otro lugar. Ed. Baile del Sol, 2011.

Pony Saturday: CR’s Retrospective

2011-10-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

Hey everypony! It’s Saturday! And you know what that means: yet another Pony Saturday!

No new episode this week, but next week, there will be. And I hear Princess Luna will be making an appearance in an episode the week after. Luna fans rejoice!

Now onto the rest of this week’s Pony Saturday post.

Various questions have plagued mankind throughout the ages: what is the meaning of life? Is there life after death? Are we alone in the universe? And the most perplexing of all: why do grown men like Pony cartoons for little girls?

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is infamous for having attained a huge on-line fan base—including fans not in the show’s aimed demographic of young girls. These young male fans in their 20s are commonly referred to as Bronies. And as you all can tell from these posts, I happen to be a brony—and proud of it! (Suck it, Stalin-Fan!)

So why do young men like myself like Pony cartoons?

Chad Rocco from That Guy With The Glasses recently released the following retrospective of the My Little Pony franchise. The first part covers the franchise from the original 80s cartoon up to the most recent incarnations. The second part covers the newest series MLP:FIM, and explicates exactly why older men prefer the series. Enjoy!

Petition L.A. County Jail! Stop The Brutality!

2011-10-07T13:57:00.000-07:00

There’s a fine line between “tough on crime” and cruel and unusual punishment. That line has been crossed by the sheriff’s deputies at the L.A. county jail, as LiberalViewer expounds in the following video.

You’d expect this type of brutality levied towards terrorists detained in Guantanamo Bay, not towards our own citizens jailed here on American soil. For goodness sakes, one of them was just a visitor and he was brutally beaten and disfigured!

The ACLU has started a petition addressing these and other abuses and calling for the resignation of Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca. I plan on signing it, and if you believe in protecting our constitutional rights—especially freedom from cruel and unusual punishment—you should sign it too!

ALGO FALLA

2011-10-07T03:13:00.000-07:00

Tenemos miedo a perder el trabajo
pero no tenemos miedo a perder la vida.

Unas cuantas mentiras son todas las certezas
de que disponemos para vivir.

Ya nos hemos matado bastante,
salva tu vida, se está muriendo.

Antonio Orihuela.Todo el mundo está en otro lugar. Ed. Baile del Sol, 2011.

Roseanne Barr: Off With Their Heads!

2011-10-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

At least when Michael Moore suggested that there could be violence if the Occupy Wall Street protesters don’t get their way, he was only implying violence. Rosanne Barr, on the other hand, pretty much incited violence when she suggested bringing back the guillotine for the bankers.

'Part of my platform is, of course, the guilty must be punished and that we no longer let our children see their guilty leaders getting away with murder.

'Because it teaches children, you know, that they don't have to have any morals as long as they have guns and are bullies and I don't think that's a good message.

'I do say that I am in favour of the return of the guillotine and that is for the worst of the worst of the guilty.

'I first would allow the guilty bankers to pay, you know, the ability to pay back anything over $100 million [of] personal wealth because I believe in a maximum wage of $100 million.

'And if they are unable to live on that amount of that amount then they should, you know, go to the re-education camps and if that doesn't help, then being beheaded.'

So you have one liberal fatass who acts like the Godfather, suggesting that things may be getting rough (if you know what I mean, capeesh?) if the bankers don’t pay up. And now you have another liberal fatass screaming “off with their heads!” like the Queen of Hearts.

Can we stop pretending that libtarded moonbats stand for tolerance and civility?

Rude Pundit: Protesters Don’t Need No Damn Demands!

2011-10-06T12:02:00.000-07:00

The main problem I have with the Occupy Wall Street protesters, as The New York Times and CNN also have, is that they don’t have a clue what they’re protesting. Even now they’re trying to decide what their demands are, let alone what their “one demand” is.

But apparently, that doesn’t faze them or their supporters, including blogger The Rude Pundit. He claims that the protesters don’t need to “articulate” their demands because, well, it’s obvious! Isn't it?

All but the most deluded believers in the bullshit chimera of voodoo economics (as we called it back in the day) know that taxes must go up. They know that the government must spend more on infrastructure and education here. They know that health insurance must be nationalized. They know that the wars must end. They know that criminals must be prosecuted. They know that Wall Street needs to be regulated. They know it and either won't do it because it'll cut into corporate profits or they can't do it because it's being blocked by the maniacs.

So that’s what the protesters want? The same trite solutions libtarded moonbats have always been peddling, all of which suck (excluding ending the wars): The rich already pay MORE than their fair share, increasing spending on education won’t do a damn thing without reform, regulation has been increasing over the last half century, and nationalized healthcare isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be—just ask the NHS Health Secretary Andrew Lansley!

This is why I cannot support these protesters. Their hearts are in the right place but their brains are absent from reality. And they keep repeating the same damn talking points, regardless of the glaring evidence to the contrary, and I get sick and tired of having to debunk them in each and every blog post.

Which is why I’m creating an essay to debunk some of the top economic myths peddled by these moonbats. Expect it sometime this weekend. If we are to escape this economic mess, we need to be guided by logic, reason, and evidence—not blind ideology!

Steve Jobs Is Dead

2011-10-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

Steve Jobs is dead at 56.

I use Windows, not Apple. So I don't really care.

2011-10-06T04:18:00.000-07:00

DALES AMOR Y PUÑETAZOS, TV

2011-10-06T02:54:00.000-07:00

Tú ya sabes que eres
el lugar donde trascurre su vivir,
su sumisión y sus pocas ganas de protesta,
así que dales un tiro allí,
bárrelos con la escoba si se caen de un andamio aquí,
y al resto déjalos sueltos por la jaula para que canten
y discutan de fútbol,
y triplica los espacios y tiempos de la publicidad
porque nadie como ella
extiende la verdadera utopía del capitalismo,
y multiplica por ocho
el tiempo de la sección de deportes,
y duplica
los concursos donde haya que cantar la ovejita lucera,
bailar con un zombi extraído de la programación de 1980
o recordar el primer apellido de soltera de la mujer del príncipe.

Mejor más películas de acción para que parezca que está pasando algo.

Mejor dales drogas, terrorismo y religión
y nadie se reirá cuando hables de la ley y el orden.

Antonio Orihuela. Todo el mundo está en otro lugar. Ed. Baile del Sol, 2011.

CNN: "Hard To Say" What Occupy Wall Street Wants!

2011-10-05T18:36:00.000-07:00

When asked what Occupy Wall Street's ultimate goal was, a CNN correspondent had this to say:

It's hard to say, but I think the best way to sum it up is that they want people to listen. Which people? The people in Washington. The people whom they hope can help make a difference. Also Wall Street. You know, they say they represent the 99% of the people in this country, and Wall Street represents 1% of the people who control the money. So they simply are saying, and you heard the phrase before, more or less, we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore. The question is how do they expect change to happen. They're not sure at this stage, and they're not bothered by that, because they believe they have time on their side to try to affect change.

Good grief! The Occupy Wall Street protesters don't even know what their "One Demand" is, but they sure as hell want you to listen to them.

By the way, if they truly want to protest the people who control the money, they need to start marching to the Federal Reserve.

EMMA GOLDMAN: ANARQUISTA DE AMBOS MUNDOS (III)

2011-10-05T01:32:00.000-07:00

“...en la Federación de Campesinos de Levante... técnicos al servicio de la CNT habían hecho experiencias interesantes con vistas a un mejor rendimiento de las cosechas y su conserva... En la industria del vestido también se habían introducido parecidos progresos... Sin prejuicio por el ritmo de la producción, los colectivistas atendían al mismo tiempo a la salud física y a la cultura general… A 40 kilómetros por la carretera de Guadalajara visité la colectividad de Azuqueca. Era una población de 1.500 habitantes. La colectividad estaba compuesta de varios centenares de miembros, y se había instalado en una finca del famoso conde de Romanones. Éste había abandonado precipitadamente España en julio de 1936… L a finca era de unas 720 hectáreas, y se la conocía con el nombre de Miralcampo. Como tantos terratenientes de la España del latifundio, el conde dedicaba este dominio a la sola recría de caballos de raza. Se suele decir que el conde, a su regreso a España al final de la guerra, se sintió asombrado del trabajo realizado en su finca, y puso empeño en conocer a las personas que habían intervenido en lo que entendía era una obra meritoria... le dijeron que era imposible, estaban todos en la cárcel o se les había aplicado el bando de guerra".

José Peirats. Emma Goldman: Anarquista de ambos mundos. Ed. La linterna sorda, 2011.

DEMOCRACIA VIGILADA

2011-10-03T23:53:00.000-07:00

Un atentado llevó a Adolfo Suárez al poder.
Un atentado llevó a Felipe González al poder.
Un atentado llevó a José María Aznar al poder.
Un atentado llevó a José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero al poder.

Mientras tengan dinamita,
¿por qué van fiarse de las urnas?

Antonio Orihuela. Todo el mundo está en otro lugar. Ed. Baile del Sol, 2011.