first principle

“the political intermediaries who are, in all societies, the guarantors of freedom, disappear to make way for a booted and spurred Jehovah who rules over the silent masses or, which comes to the same thing, over masses who shout slogans at the top of their lungs.” “thus he must create guilt in his victims so that, in a world that has no direction, universal guilt will authorize no other course of action than the use of force and give its blessing to nothing but success…the only value…remained, until the bitter end, success.” “the rebel” albert camus____________________________________

the alleged billionaire and unalloyed doofus in the white house is nothing if not a staggeringly arrogant proponent of a consequentialist viewpoint…success is all that matters…how it is achieved is, at best, a secondary matter with no real room for ethics…acquisition is the goal…what you have matters, not how you got it…anyone who disagrees with that is “stupid a “loser” and a “moron”…and there are no grey areas in that…

an us/them bunker mentality that is endemic to the shouters at his rallies and to the partisan behaviors in congress…

in their descent into bickering along well defined party lines they have ceased to be “ the guarantors of freedom” ( and there is significant doubt in my mind if the congress was ever a guarantor of anything but privilege…there is strong evidence that the change in government engineered by the constitutional convention was rather a coup against the declaration of independence and “the will of the people” by a new aristocratic class ) and become drone representatives of faction with no real desire to be factual or, to the extent humans can be, objective in assessing what is actually going on…since the electoral process is a de facto choice of candidates from the two wings of what is essentially the same party we are left observing events in whoretown with nothing that could be defined as influence by the polity…from the beginning the billionaire portrayed himself as an “outsider” who was going to “drain the swamp”…

this laughable ( and widely accepted ) contention has spurred a host of career politicians to proclaim their outsiderness in a partisan frenzy to pursue the above concept of “success” for as much as they can get…greed as first principle has always had a place in government…it is, I think, the current, blatant display of the fact that has unnerved some of the polity…that it has unnerved a significant portion of the ruling elite is obvious as well as they try to re-cloak the underlying precept of government ( protect and expand wealth at the cost of the rest of society ) which is in danger of screwing up a good gig I n terms that may rival the great depression of disillusionment with capitalism and the hegemonic culture that controls it…”class traitors have emerged in its defense a la fdr in the 1930s…they will be reviled…they will do their best to preserve the status quo while masquerading as being “ for the street”…it is as unsustainable as the economy…it will implode eventually…entropy will have its way and the feedback loop that has allowed it ( read fossil fuels ) will see homo sapiens into “the dustbin of history”…deny what you like…denial is a very human activity and i am deeply familiar with it…reality does not respect it…from rising sea levels to increasing disparity in wealth on a global level to a mass of climate refugees this will not end well.

re: mike's shot at "career politicians"

as an addenda to the last post, mike braun served on the jasper indiana school board and was elected tot he indiana house of representatives before his current gig in the u.s senate...small beer as political careers go perhaps...but don't tell me he had no aspirations to one.

partisan politics thrives in the hoosier state

the puking buddha is back and the stench emanating from whoretown is nauseating just about everyone i can think of and they still go on shoveling shit...

the day trumpy was impeached i dashed off a letter to both my senators describing by deep doubts about either being able to put partisan politics aside and have, to the extent possible, an objective look at what facts are available ( which, given pelosi's games(wo)manship may not be many ) and render a judgment independent of the "party line" extolled by mcconnell and his cadre of kleptocrats...the response from mike braun was swift and so completely subservient to his master's wishes that i am compelled to share since it can only be the thinking of the majority of that august body's memebers...

if that isn't an abject regurgitation of the current administration's rationalization for poor government i will eat my hat with no salt...sycophancy of the meanest and self-debasing sort and reflective of the other fifty-two republicans...after reading mikes snarky comment about "carer politicians" i am inclined to write him and ask if he plans to vacate his seat when his term expires or if he intends to seek reelection and this start a career...thinking he is making far too much money to let it all go... finally a note to the hopeful...don't be...all mcconnell and company have to do is hold thirty-four votes of fifty-three republican senators and acquittal is assured...trumpy isn't going anywhere...and he will be vengeful in as stalinist a way as he can be.

impeached II and some thoughts on "personal growth"

the puking buddha needed a break...he decommissioned his facebook page and refuses to deal in politics until a week from yesterday...we should respect that...beyond that you find no respect for the subjects at hand here at all...

this woman and her cohort of cadres is planning on withholding the articles of impeachment from the senate in a effort to slow down the senate trial process...the senate majority will be apoplectic...this will end up in court...the government will sue itself...which may serve the same purpose as withholding the information however it will make the whores look all the more partisan and probably harden graham's esculpatory pre judgement across the republican side of the aisle...

meantime the wounded and enraged narcissist will channel stalin and set his sights on "getting even"..after the acquittal...the bloodbath will be instructional about the realities of elite behaviors when they feel threatened from below...

this is just a few of the articles to be found on line that explain to me why it is a "good" thing people hold multiple jobs...a rose colored assortment of pollyanna reasons about "networking" and "personal growth" and "cultivation of skill sets" which is why we should all do this...talking to friends and acquaintances who hold multiple jobs brings to light a different set of reasons... 1) there is a dearth of "full-time" jobs. hours are something less than 40 a week. 2) remuneration for existing jobs is a joke. multiple jobs are necessary as part of the hustle to make ends meet. 3) part-time = no benefits ( a massive corporate savings passed on to ceos and shareholders ) the propgandists in the corporate world work overtime to both engineer your desires and deflate your expectations...fuck these people.

impeached? so?

"The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment." article I, section 2, clause 5 of the u.s. constitution_____________________the house impeaches but they do not adjudicate the trial...that is up to the senate and if those scoundrels convict it would be the biggest legal news since georgi dimitrov was acquitted by the nazis for complicity in the reichstag fire in 1933...weirder things have happened...possible but not tremendously probable...between lindsey grahm's example of esculpatory pre-judgement and mitch mcconnell vowing a "speedy trial"...so speedy there will be no witnesses and not time for measured assessment...just a vote along party lines and acquittal and a second term...the yahoos will bray...the liberals will wail...the evangelicals will thank god...and the rich will continue to get richer...the kleptocracy will be reaffirmed and people who have a keen eye for human nature and the study of the political system as it is rather than the high school civics version with it's "will of the people" and it s happy endings will be validated if still in the same miserable boat as everyone else...the system aint broke...it is designed to negate the "will of the people" and maintain an elitist control of the hegemonic culture while paying lip service to republican forms...have a look at gibbon and the imperial senate's activities...the pigs are at the trough...dislodging them will not be a simple matter.

some are natural and some are vain

"among desires, some are natural and some are vain. of those that are natural, some are necessary and some unnecessary. of those that are necessary, some are necessary for happiness, some for health, and some for life itself. a clear recognition of desires enables one to base every choice and avoidance upon whether it secures or upsets bodily comfort and peace of mind...although pleasure is the greatest good, not every pleasure is worth choosing...when we say that pleasure is the goal, we do not mean the pleasure of debauchery or sensuality. despite whatever may be said by those who misunderstand, or disagree with, or deliberately slander our teachings, the goal we do seek is this:freedom from pain in the body and freedom from turmoil in the mind." epicurus in a letter to menoeceus_________________________________it has been an eventful life lately and the puking buddha and i were retreating into diogenes laertius' book " the lives and opinions of eminent philosophers" and specifically wandering through the section on epicurus...in part as a reaction to scrooge's "false and commercial festival" that crops up here every year around this time...and partly because of a wider cultural malaise that engenders it...consumption is the life blood of the hegemonic culture and i happened to be wandering though a local epicenter of it recently and, while it did not show me anything i did not already know it did serve to reinforce the sense of it both its hideousness and its waste that a current stint working in retail has already sensitized me to...the one hundred and twenty five stores and kiosks that populate the mall are microcosm of that hegemony...immersed since birth in the culture of consumption ( how much advertising have we seen? i stopped watching television seven years ago and am still bombarded from newspapers, billboards and junk mail...the ad blocking addons i have here have blunted the pop up ads here...still spam abounds in my mailboxes and i routinely decommission my facebook page [just did that today] because i ads [ and toxic bullshit] are unavoidable there ) you could almost accept it as "normal" until you begin to ask yourself exactly what it is you really need as opposed to what you are programed to desire by the social engineers that work in media...there are fifty clothing stores in that mall...all "trendy" and all clearly aimed at someone younger than me...we all need clothing...and we could all find it more reasonably priced elsewhere...twenty five purveyors of fast food dot the premises...i gave that up a while back too...no "natural desire" here...eight jewelry stores..."diamonds are forever" or "one billion years in the making"...take your pick...seven phone stores or kiosks...everyone needs a smartphone...four sporting goods stores...three financial consultants...two nail spas...and, in what must be the most telling editorial ( in my view anyway ) one bookstore with a plethora of bill o'reiley titles and more books with either trump or obama on the covers than i care to see in one place...not only was it the only book store, it was a bad one...still...people are shopping here, right? 'tis the season, correct?

well...maybe...but not enough...this used to be an entrance to sears...a retailer easily as large, if not larger, than the one i currently work for...and it seems domed...which should be an object lesson for the whole collection here...

sears is gone and there are others teetering on the edge of that abyss...it's not just the system that's bankrupt...

and this is why they want us all to have smartphones..."forever connected"...perhaps like the "omni channel retailer" they are hoping even more exposure will reinforce the buying habit we have been enculturated with...sticking with a flip phone i can take the battery out of or slip into a faraday bag when i want to vanish...the shrillness of the attempt reeks of doom...theirs and ours since the system is killing us as a species..."the holidays" are an abysmal time of year...i would wish it was february except someone will be flogging valentines day the day after christmas...happy holidays people...christmas is an advertising tool...i keep trying to skip it...so far it has been undoable...the debauchery continues.

borders

the puking buddha and i were ruminating over the recent election triumph scored by...

this seemingly clownish politician whom quite a few people dismissed ( and many still do...we will get to that in a bit ) as, if not unelectable, than as incompetent...well...that is unproven however what has happened is he has been given a mandate to take great britan out of the european union in probably any way he sees fit including the "no deal" option...whatever that might be...so the question for me is why? this is not going to help london's position in europrean finance...probably it will cost them economically in any number of ways ranging from mild to horrible depending on what they can make of their exit...i am reasonably certain there are people in england who know this and a substantial percentage of the voting population who don't care...yet anyway...since everyone is at least marginally concerned about there economic well-being what would make people disregard that? i am thinking a source of greater fear than penury...so what fear is it that drives so many brits to want out? the same fear that is driving a resurgence of ugly right-wing extremism all over...fear of open borders and refugees...humans are clannish creatures who want to be with people who look and talk and, within reason, think like they do...the whole pretense of economic issues is a cover for fear that the empire may be coming home to roost and that the channel isn't a buffer anymore...they want to keep "the other" out and if that means a hard border in northern ireland so be it because we are about to be overrun...france...belgium...the netherlands...poland...name a country and immigrants and refugees are an issue...

the israelis...who have learned all the wrong lessons ( albeit somewhat understandably ) from their terrible mid 20th century experiences have pioneered the idea of walls to keep "the other" out...

this clown and his "base" are in agreement with that thinking...

he jabbers about walls as well and it is the same fear here as on the other side of the ocean..."the other"...and the other isn't going to decrease in size...despite the denial and belittlement of "activists" the climate is changing and it is generating refuges fleeing the impacts...the deniers dissemble about this and cover with "political" reasons....but they think we are fools and they have an agenda...the number of refugees from climate disaster is only going to increase and, as it stands, the response to those refuges is going to be violently ugly unless we manage to overcome our clannish human nature...i am not sanguine...and the conflicts are not limited to externals either...there is disputation over response in virtually any country you care to name...in britan's elections last thursday for instance, the scottish nationalist party won forty-eight out of fifty-nine seats in the scottish parliament...boris will try to marginalize this but scottish separatism is largely based on scoland's desire to remain in the european union...the picts have never loved the brits and the act of union may not be worth the paper it is written on in the long run...boris has few fans north of hadrian's wall...dissolution may well be the paradigm...and there has already been a civil war here...long term, the notion of "one nation, indivisible" is pretty much illusory...in 1981 joel garreau wrote a book titled "the nine nations of north america"...i sat down with a relief map and a red pen and came up with fourteen...there is homogeneity of culture on the continent but it is regional, not universal..."the other" is right here at home and if you pay attention the cracks in the facade are getting bigger...there is enough wealth about that we could likely find a way to care for all of us on equitable terms...but the "haves" would, of necessity, need to give some things up...again, i am not sanguine...humans are humans...this isn't going to end well.

why such a generous offer?

“for over 125 years the wall street journal has been a leading source of global news. and, since 2008, wine lovers across the u.s. have relied on the wsjwine discovery club to drink in-the-know and explore the world of wine with confidence.” ( who writes this stuff? )______________________________________________ the puking buddha and i were perusing the new york times yesterday when an envelope boldly inscribed “a special offer only for the readers of the new york times" dropped out of the artifact…admittedly we have run across the “wsjwine discovery club” before…they drop these “special offers” in the times about once a quarter or so…as we looked over the advertisement a few things struck us…why 2008? could it be that bear stearns’ collapse and a tanking economy persuaded the editors that purveying “news” was not going to be lucrative enough an activity and the time had come to diversify the journal’s economic activities to keep the ship afloat? certainly “the news” is not what it used to be…it was always biased no matter what the source, but its function as an economic activity was beginning to falter…so much competition for the hearts and minds…so many products being flogged out there with fox and msnbc barking down viewers like carnies to sell them “the facts” and set them on a “right-thinking” path perhaps print was foundering and new areas need to be explored…and the journal’s media moguls were not the only ones thinking along the lines of mind numbing substances for readers…the new york times. rolling stone, and the nation all have “wine clubs” ( not to mention the fucking nra…they have one too although one would have thought a “beer club” more appropriate )…the media have reached a bad patch these days…no one knows what’s what and they all have an agenda ( and a product ) to sell…from left to right they are hawking social wisdom and the proper mind set for the “new reality” of our “new, happy life”…and minds softened by the waste product of yeast devouring sugar are more malleable and ripe for indoctrination...and the wall street journal is willing to take a $180 hit just to get you started down that road…my “wine voucher” is going into the archives...i gave up yeast shit long ago…you may indulge as you see fit in that substance...i am not the final arbiter of behavior...i would suggest that you leave political and social thought for more a cogent moment however…there are enough fruit loops exercising bad judgment out there already.