obfuscation

i got a letter from my friend joe biden the other day

( he calls me “friend” in the body of the letter, how could i doubt him? nancy Pelosi called me friend in a letter a while back as well…friendly group politicians )..i get these from both sides of the aisle…by mail, email, and old tom cotton loves to send me texts whining about “ obstructionist democrats” as if that low life wasn’t doing some “obstructing” of his own over in whoretown…and there is a consistent theme in them all…they are asking for money…and, basically, through a medium of scripted fearmongering…in both letters the democrats needed cash to “hold and expand our majorities” that will allow the continued passage of “historic legislation” for the benefit of “everyday americans”…tom cotton, on the other hand, wants to regain control of congress to stop the drift towards “socialism” being engendered by the biden cadre…the urgency of these messages is intended to wring out as much cash from my personal coffers as possible with the threat of the demise of “historic legislation” or some weak-kneed socialist bureaucracy instead of the vaunted American “individualism” ( mythologizing bunch, politicians )…richard henry lee was from virginia ( first cousin once removed to robert e. lee )…possibly a slave owner ( the family business was tobacco ) and probably pro-slavery/states rights ( i have not researched either of those so chalk them up to supposition…i don’t really know for a fact just yet ) none of which negates the validity of this lee quote…”it is natural for men who wish to hasten the adoption of a measure to tell us now is the crisis, now is the critical moment which must be seized or all is lost”…he was reacting to the fearmongering surrounding the proposed adoption of the constitution...at the moment i am reacting to the still prominent component of fearmongering in politics here from the local to the national…these people claim public service however i am forced to wonder how much “everyday americans” benefit from their “historic legislation” in proportion to the real constituents ( read corporations and the wealthy elite ) they actually represent and fear and division are the tools they use relentlessly to achieve their agendas…the system is “rigged”…in favor of wealth it seems…

another question…how can it be that the law requires i list my occupation and name of my employer should i make political donations of $200 or more in a calendar year? my current employment ( such as it is ) is “at will”…so are my political views ( and committments ) liable to be communicated to my employer to sap that “will” to continue my employment ( oddly all anyone in management would have to do is mine this blog…my political views are manifest in it and, while readership seems limited, it is public )

…and, finally, even the cost of a forever stamp would help the cause along…it would be refreshing if they were honest about the exact nature of the “cause”…unfortunately that is obscured by fear and obfuscation.

lifestyle class grifters?

this is a sotheby's international realty advertisement from today's lifestyle class's philosophical and economic mouthpiece, the new york times...$107,797,000 worth of realesrate with a"price on request" ( we will be getting to that ) that may push the total value up considerably...the connecticut and new york properties may be, if this is not a bubble, reasonably safe investments for those of wealthy means...the arizona "home" may be imperiled by its location west of the 100th meridian and an increasing dearth of water in the colorado river basin...

the santa cruz california location has essentially the same issue as the arizona estate while the lower lake plot has a double threat of lack of water and the wildfires that have burned in the area...toasted home...landslides...cranky wildlife...a raft of possible issues and at $18,000,000 i would be inclined to say "not interested"...there's one in the bahamas...who knows how long they will be above water...and on the subject of sea level rise...

that "price upon request" could be a blind...bluffton is located on the may river across a channel from hilton head island and, if you bother to look around, you find that a lot of hilton head and bluffton are projected to be underwater as sea levels rise...someone may be looking to unload before the fossil fuel debt comes due along the eastern seaboard...another "no thanks"...lots of contingency in life and our footing as a species, let alone an ecomically viable nation, is considerably more tenuous than most people think...or care to realize...the "free market" and techno-optimist propagandists have been playing us all along...shaky realestate investments are just another part of the optimism induced blinders.

let me remind you...

...that these people are not now, nor have they ever been, neutral representatives of "the people's interests"...it has been a year since the overt signal for the suspension of the constitution ( in itself anomalous since politicians are diligently working on the state level to redistrict voting towards the limited franchise of the original, profoundly lockean, document in an effort to render the amended inclusion of the lesser kind moot) or civil war (to suppose that impossible would be to be hopelessly mired in the “good citizenship” of high school civics…there has already been a civil war…and a “war to end all wars” for that matter…tolerance for “the other” would seem to be a utopian viewpoint) and what has been done about it? seems much ineffective posturing and outright obstructionism (which is engendering a second successive failed presidency…the doubly vaccinated and singularly boostered donny was no treat) in a congressional behavioral sump full to the brim with narcissistic whores producing little result as the perpetrators and their legislative allies seek to smear the facts into unrecognizability…mid-terms are approaching, and while i cannot see them ameliorating the zoo/circus/freakshow nature of the above congressional sump, they could provide and index of how far the gerrymandering has shifted voting results to the right…which would be a line of inference about 2024… the outline for the seizure of power through the electoral process (a contested win, a declaration of emergency, president for life) has a long and well-studied history which usually does not end well for the dictator ( think caligula or maybe hitler…stalin is the only one i can think of who died in bed…even then it seems medical attention had been withheld until it was far too late)…while talk of that possibility (or , again, civil war…i read an article in which a “leading general” stated that in the event of a disputed election the military might splinter with some following “lawful orders” and others following “a trumpian loser”…shades of lee’s loyalty to virginia)

grows the canadians are beginning to ponder a response to an american reich…that is a long border…still…this is all supposition…lots of contingency in life and human cognition cannot grasp all the variables…the polity in the u. s. has been this divided before on a number of occasions…and, in fact, has been so since the get-go…”but a new phenomenon has made its way into the house since Friday. pierce butler, from carolina, has taken his seat and flames like a meteor.” willam maclay’s journal of the first congress 8 june 1789…”butler flamed away, and threatened a dissolution of the union with regard to his state, as sure as god was in his firmament.” same source 11 june 1789…state’s rights have always been a source of contention with the center yet the nation has survived although not unchanged…so change will continue to come…and not necessarily civil war or a trumpian dictatorship (although one would have to perceive donny as a readily controlled mouthpiece while some cheney-like “grey blur” holds the real levers of power in the background…in politics no one does things alone…there is always help)…if either of those events does come to pass however my thoughts are, no matter who prevails nationally,

the big winners will be vlad the impaler and xi dada jinping (who, incidentally, will become the 21st century’s first undead up there with the original vlad, ho, and mao)…something for the entire political spectrum to ponder…wondering if they have the intellectual elasticity to manage that.

72 of the n y times "favorite facts of 2021'

“7. pepsico’s frito-lay division made 70 million pounds of snacks leading up to super bowl week 2021, slightly more than it did in the previous year, based on the expectation that smaller gatherings would result in increased purchases of chips.”_____ don’t watch football…don’t eat salty snacks…irrelevant to me…wonderful consumption though ( if they all sold )_____ “13. during the frigid temperatures in February, texas’ largest oil field burned off 1.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas in one day, enough to power tens of thousands of homes for at least a year.”_____ who says capitalism is “efficient”? no one i know…the waste is incredible from the micro to macro and it goes on every day in pursuit of “profit”…and that doesn’t touch on the carbon the released…where’s william t. vollmann when you need him?_____ “18. in the 1970s, the american psychiatric association adopted a rule saying that, without proper authorization, it was unethical for psychiatrists to issue a professional opinion about a public figures condition.”_____ and so no deranged, entitled, unregenerate, unmatured adolescent dingbat could be called “unfit for office” by anyone allegedly capable of making a judgement…we were not going to have the whole barry goldwater 1964 mud slinging fiasco in the new nixonite world order…wondering just what un-scrupled clowns this spared down the line._____ “20. adults spend as much as 47 percent of their waking hours letting their minds wander, according to one harvard study that tracked participants with an app.”_____ where to start? digression is the structure of human thought…it is how we make connections…even i understand that as i ramble along having full blown conversations with myself…however the whole “app” business highlights the way the majority of the population have their noses stuck in a smartphone…probably explains a lot of auto accidents and may have something to do with the 1.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas cited above…one supposes the n y times was trying to be entertaining as it propagandized…there are 72 of these little gems in today’s paper…even the one about giraffes had a feminist subtext…mass media in the “age of mcluhan”…my interpretation of the message likely was not what was intended.

shots fired? contingency in action

that's what they said...but i didn't hear any...in my retirement dotage i have aquired a "retirement job" ( for reasons which will remain my own ) at a branch of a "major retailer" in a surban mall...in the receiving department...we had a truck today and had finished unloading it and had loaded the return truck so it was time for a break after five hours of steady work...i went out to my vehicle about eleven a.m., ate something, and was perusing a book ( assignment in utopia by eugene lyons ) when at approximately eleven twenty people, including the staff at the store, came stampeding out every available exit...unusual...i though, "well, either a fire or someone is shooting"...it was the latter although not in the store ( in the mall actually ) and i did not hear anything...at approximately eleven twenty five local law enfocement began to noisily arrive and ten minutes later we were all hearded back to the mattrress department and pretty much locked in the store...i counted forty one people ( including a scattering of customers ) looking somewhat bewildered and mildly confused...this did not last as within five minutes virtually all of them had their noses in their smart phones...except for perhaps five and the guy who was stretched out on a couch in the furniture department across the aisle catching up on some sleep...( i have a flip phone and yes i did get a text from my eldest who had received an alert to "avoid the mall because of police activity"...i sent reassurances about my well-being )...this was staus quo for the next ninety minutes of being "locked-down" and it is startling how boring the aftermath of a shooting can be...conversation, already minimal thanks to the phone business, dwindled to near total silence and i regretted not grabbing eugene's book as i went back in...then again i fully expected to finish a shift since retail is loathe to lose perfectly good sales time just because of some random violence...this did not happen...stymied by the workings of law enfocement...after the nintieth minute had passed we were told to grab out coats, go out into the mall through a specific store exit, and be prepared to present our state issued photo id on demand...i did so and, after being frisked for "weapons" ( i did report to the frisking officer that i had two razor knives...he seemed unimpressed ), was told to exit through specific mall doors, passing though a phalanx of riot shields, helmeted police, and an awfully lot of people toting assault rifles and practicing stringent trigger finger discipline...i am assuming that each of them profiled me as a recreational drug user/abuser ( based, mostly, on the hair...the beard was concealed bhind a mask ) even though i abjured intoxicants in 1986 as a sure death trap if i did not...self preservation won that argument...so i got to "retire" and i got to go home early today after a "shooting incident"...weird how life can work out...i have no clue if shots were actually fired of if a miscreant was apprehended...i may check the media...i amy skip it and lean on the "grapevine" for the details...surely someone in retail will research them...or exaggerate them...or invent them...take your pick...we are all children of mcluhan now.

mercilessly

“i only add in passing that when we gorge ourselves this christmas, if we do get the chance to gorge ourselves, it is worth giving a thought to the thousand million human beings who will be doing no such thing. for in the long run our christmas dinners would be safer if we could make sure that everyone had a christmas dinner as well.” george orwell, “as i please” 20 december 1946_____________________________________ “it’s getting harder and harder to give presents. who has room for anything these days?...and mercilessly we go on giving.” gunter grass, “the rat.”____________________________ when asked “what do you want for christmas?” i have, for at least a decade, sincerely responded “nothing”…to no effect…”stuff” continues to collect…i am older…i do not need more “stuff”…my focus anymore is on actually using what i already have rather than accumulating more material goods ( and let’s talk about the “bads” involved in those “goods” sometime)…oh i still purchase books ( or someone gives them to me…a “go to” when asked for gift suggestions…i have, of late, been reading “being and nothingness”…sartre was an over-intellectualized jerk with a bug up his ass about his grandpa )…and i still eat food…but trust me i have enough t shirts and hoodies to last me until the end of my days…i have, as a “retirement job” been working in receiving at a “major retailer”…this has done nothing but harden my attitude about the “holidays” and consumerist ethics…which are somewhat confusing…is there a duty to buy? seemingly…there are hordes of shoppers browsing and buying…and the procrastinators were out in force yesterday…one wonders if they were satisfying needs, desires, or indoctrination…there is a good deal of agit-prop out there reenforcing that indoctrination…and if it is a pavlovian response where does the puzzling phenomenon of “buyer’s remorse” fit in? a reaction to an artificially inseminated desire? a subconscious recognition of blatant manipulation? an internalization of the fact that someone is profiting at your expense? ( “how easily people are distracted and robbed while being handed commodities.” andrei coderscu )…or maybe the moment of transaction is the drug and buyer’s remorse is withdrawal…whichever, a good dose of denial will rationalize it all away in time for the next purchase…is any of it “necessary”…do we actually give anything that is “needed”? a friend just lost an adult child in an accident…i’d like to give that person some equanimity…unfortunately i cannot…all i have is condolences, ineffective as they are…equanimity they will have to come to on their own…the same way we will have to satisfy our “needs”…the rest is dross…i have to go…christmas dinner is at my daughter’s house…i don’t have much of an appetite for it ( or the “holiday” ) but i am going anyway because she is my daughter…and that is important… “not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.” Epicurus ( the grossly misunderstood and slandered philosopher)

what time is it?

time is elastic...we all know this...and it has multiple levels of experience...there's internet time ( a species of immediate gratification that meshes well with the post-modern consumerist ethos...and there is a consumerist ethos...although how ethical it is is open to question...we have pondered this...what makes a "good" consumer? judicious expenditure or consitent expenditure? depoends on whether you are one of the retail hegemons or not i imagine...subjective [and, possibly, objectivist]...consistent would fit their defintion of "good" near as i can determine...is there a hierarchy of consumption? is it more ethical [in a consumerist sense] to purchase diamonds rather than mundane foodstuffs? is there a duty to consume or is that an expansion of necessary consumption [food say] that the hegemons have grafted onto the unnecesary dressed up as imperative need? so many questions )...and there's clock time...that tells me when to be at work or when the kids need to be picked up or dropped off...and then there's event time...i experienced that today when, on a cloudless, crisp autumn morning i heard an explosion off to the wnw and the power went out...that was at 7:45 a.m. cdt and the power was off as long as it took to change an exploded transformer...no specifically delineated time parameters...it was what it was and took as long as it took...simple elapsed time...and if it had not have been so early on a sunday the neigborhood would have emptuied out as people went in search of that internet time...i assume they mostly slept though it all...

they missed the estimate...it was back on at 9:19 a.m. cdt...it was just a guess