E-mails released Saturday morning show top executives at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boasting about the money the firm was making as the national housing market collapsed in 2007.
They're ticks.
Blood-sucking ticks.
Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Ted Kaufman (D-DE) just introduced a bold new proposal to break up the big Wall Street banks. This may be the biggest reform of Wall Street and corporate power in 80 years. If you're so inclined, you may sign this petition to the senate showing your support.
(My apologies for the disgusting, very graphic image. I just felt it was appropriate.)
There's been such a divisiveness in our country. Such a darkness that has settled on people's spirits. It's almost like it's sucking the life out of the world.
Almost like media, giant corporations and many politicians are conspiring against the average American citizen. Lining their players up in order to control the masses.
Like they're dementors.
Circling and waiting for us to get tired...
And then, when the timing is right, they'll swoop in and devour the goodness, our souls right out of us...
I know this all sounds very dramatic, and maybe it's just because it's the end of February. But, I can't help feeling a wickedness in our social and political climate right now.
And I believe that besides ignorance, which breeds fear, that the main cause of this shadow, once it's whittled down, boils down to people looking outside themselves for something to make them happy. That on an individual level, it's about wanting more. And that more will never be enough.
Whether it's a CEO sick with greed, hoping to fill a void that he or she has always had... And by being financially successful, that this will make up for that emptiness that resides somewhere in them.
Or whether it's a politician, hoping that the recognition of holding an office will be some kind of an award of esteem. That power will fulfill them.
Or whether it's a parent. Working too late and too much in order keep up with the neighbors or others' expectations? Thinking that their children need more things, need to be involved in more activities, need this and that when really, the kid just wants their parent's attention and presence. (I'm talking of extremes here, not someone working their tail off to put food on the table.)
They're diluted to think that "more" will eventually be enough. That it's just right around that next corner. It will always be right around the next corner... All the while walking on Greed Street, USA.
Whether it's money or power, it boils down to greed. And greed is a symptom of lacking in something else, some stealth vacuity inside themselves.
And I firmly believe that if you're not happy without it, you're not going to be happy with it. Whatever that IT may be.
I grew up thinking something different. And hoping for something different. So, I believe in something different.
I believe that we're all interconnected. All fingers on the same hand, limbs on the same body. All waves in the same ocean. All sentient beings a part of one being. That there really is no "us" and "them". That it's all US. And I don't believe this is exclusive to humans, but to ALL life.
That we are a part of everything else. And everything else is a part of us. And it has always been this way. And it always will be... in some form or another.
Therefore, if we're in this giant mess together, and I ain't NEVER gonna get my stank ass away from you crazy bishes and your stank asses, then I also believe that the better off someone else is, in turn, this will help me as well. That to insure someone else's happiness, is to insure my own. And thus, we'll all be better off.
And it certainly doesn't hurt and never fails that every time I'm able to help someone, whether it's as simple as listening (which isn't always so "simple"), or something requiring more effort, I never feel so alive as when I do.
So, in regards to the healthcare reform debate, I've written quite a bit.
And when I think of our interconnectedness. And the healthcare debate and the corporate greed that's poisoning the American spirit. When I think of the freedom and welfare of all people, I can't help thinking of a brave woman, standing out in all kinds of weather.
She stands decidedly, unwavering in her mission.
It doesn't matter what kind of storm is brewing, she stands.
Looking out to sea for those that are trying to find their way...
I was always so proud of what she represents.
And as an adult, she affects me no less deeply than she did when I was a child.
Her message resonates with me to my very core...
And I hope I never, NEVER forget that.
The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame,
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Those words dampen my eyes with humility and pride every time.
Today is a virtual march on Washington. People are signing more petitions, MoveOn is sending faxes and people are calling their members of Congress. If you're so inclined, please feel free to take part. And here are six easy ways to do so:
Virtual March for Real Health Care Reform (When you sign up, they'll prepare faxes in your name and send them to your senators. They'll also send you a reminder to call Congress.)
While Senator-elect Scott Brown (R-MA) now says that Massachusetts shouldn’t subsidize federal health care reform, in October of 2009 the then-mostly unknown candidate Brown bragged that his state “took money that was coming from the federal government” rather than raise taxes to pay for its 2006 health care overhaul. During the radio interview with WRKO, Brown also defended the individual and employer health care mandates and admitted that the public option “may be good for other parts of the country“. (source)
Brown implied that the federal government needs to play a role in reforming the health care system and stressed that the federal dollars have helped insure residents who “don’t have any care whatsoever.” “Until they change the federal rules regarding health care and health care coverage for all, and we have to continue to support the folks hare in Massachusetts to keep them healthy,” he said.
I don't know why this irritates me so much, but it does. People can't even drive a car without texting and surfing the web and we want them to FLY?? ALONE? LIKE FROM THEIR FUCKING DRIVEWAY??
Wonderful.
Everyone gets so worked up about where our tax dollars are going. Understandably. I get worked up as well.
The A-holes on Wall Street with their billions in bonuses is disgusting. I think they should have to give out blow-jobs and fur-burger munch-jobs to the homeless for the next three years in order to get those bonuses.
Maybe the next five.
Or you know what? Fuck it. The rest of their greedy lives.
Yeah. That's right. They should have to get busy licking the homeless.
FOREVER.
People would be giving up their homes left and right. I know I would.
Obviously, I don't think they should be getting any bonuses. But, if they're going to, let's make them REALLY work for it.
And industry is pissing in it. Among other things, like ironically, ROCKET FUEL.
I think what really bothers me is the state of our economy and our society. Thousands of people are dying yearly due to a lack of health care. And no one wants to pay for that. But, we're okay with paying for rockets that blast into the moon.
Or now. We're paying some dude or dudette to conceptualize a personal fucking flying suit.
Which besides the frivolity of it, logistically, it just doesn't sound like a very good idea to me.
Let's take the jet-packs, for instance.
We have lift-off.
Okay... Nice view of the countryside... That's great.
Okay... Nice view of the city. Good for you.
And maybe in the inevitable?
A recipe...
For disaster,
When you miss your exit...
And then, of course, there's in-air texting,
Yeah, bishes. That's what I'm talking about.
The good part of jet-packs?
Their use in Japanese Game Shows... Where the contestant is launched out over open water with no hopes of landing softly.
And who can debate the fun of getting to your rental car quickly?
So, I'm wondering... Where exactly is it we're going so fast?
Congresswoman Donna Edwards and constitutional law professor Jamie Raskin speak out against the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC and call for a mass movement of people to support a constitutional amendment. Visit FreeSpeechforPeople.org to learn more and get involved.
I'm not a pacifist. Though I occasionally play one at parties. In real life, I'm not that evolved yet. One day, with much more meditation, spiritual work, hair spray and booze, I hope to be.
While I don't ever condone violence, not ever. I can hardly think of the current state of our country's government and economic sector without thinking of the movie "V for Vendetta".
I don't want anyone to die, mind you... But, I wouldn't mind seeing a few explosions.
So, in all this madness, you DO have power. You can make informed purchases. You can do your part to support fair-minded businesses.
You can browse the buyer's guide below, supplied by The Human Rights Campaign. Just move your cursor over the guide to enlarge it and literally browse the pages via the "menu" in the lower right hand corner.
"If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him." - Senator Jim Demint (R) South Carolina
"Break him". "BREAK". "HIM"..
So, this is personal, Mr. Demint? While people continue to die from lack of health care coverage.
PEOPLE ARE DYING.
This kind of attitude makes you a collaborator, Mr. Demint. Your personal vendetta makes you an accomplice to mass murder. In the form of untreated diseases and illnesses. But, death is death. And you've got blood on your hands that increases with everyday you refrain from passing some type of reform.
And Mr. Demint? Your fine state still flies the confederate flag at its capital. And that's just fucking sick. You're a vile piece of shit.
“I hope we shall... crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and to bid defiance to the laws of our country.”
~ Thomas Jefferson, letter to George Logan. November 12, 1816
