somewhat fallacious reasoning

it's fairly well known that i have never been a particularly impressed by the level of advocacy for workers' interests evinced by the union i am a member of....it is a craft union and i am an industrial worker...the two never mixed particularly well...in the pre wagner act days they represented only skilled workers in industrial settings, leaving the unskilled and semi-skilled to fend for themselves...that mind set has proved durable and they seem to favor their journeymen and masters far more than the "industrial arm"...just prior when "right to work" legislation went into effect in indiana we had signed a contract that pretty much locked the bargaining unit into paying dues for the life of that contract...when i expired at the end of last january members began to "opt out" of paying dues, becoming "free riders" who were still represented by the union and covered by the contract...this upsets the doyens and doges at the hall and they began to publicly name names ( first at trane ) and asked that their peers "persuade" them to become "good" dues paying members in the quarterly journal clearly wanting the prodigals "back in the fold"....a few weeks ago the union powers that be were at the plant passing out union logo baseball caps to the "loyal" members and denying to the fourteen ( now thirteen...one opt out has recanted ) deserters...today they put up a sign up sheet fro a "free tee shirt!" for "union members only" and...in a clearly boneheaded move ala our esteemed half-dumb governor...posted a list of people who are ineligible for the free offer as if 1) they didn't know that already, 2) as if they cared, and 3) as if this was going to seduce them back into paying dues rather than just be a continuation of divisive behavior...the brains trust at the local needs a significant retooling...rather than attempting to educate the people who have opted out about the real motivations behind right to work and reason with them like the rational people they are ( most anyway...i know and have worked with some of these people for years and there are a number of them i genuinely like...they are not stupid and they have their reasons...some dialog might help...this does not qualify ) they pull some puerile bullshit that belongs in middle school...no wonder vast numbers of working people think unions are useless...this one could be a vehicle for the interests and needs of the members...not just economically but socially and politically...instead we get lame bullshit games...i will not be asking for a tee shirt...i am disinclined to ask these bozos for even the time of day much less cogent representation.

juden raus!

as i get older i sometimes lack the energy to really crank up for a good rant and my attitude becomes deceptively mellow about things like politics and the whores...but it's sunday morning ...i have slept...and the rat fucks are at it again...this time in ways that deserve a lecture form doctor tarr and professor feather...in a private ceremony...because the blowback from this has made anything public surrounding it political poison ( one ex governor said " even i wasn't stupid enough to sign a bill like that" ) and rightfully so...so the the half-dumb governor of indiana signs the bill in private with a smiling cohort of jihadis for christ who think they have the final ends of humanity sown up and if you don't conform to our vision then hard cheese for you you abominations and spawn of satan's hell...when will the reichstag burn? who will continue to formulate the new nuremburg laws? nazis gave homosexuals pink triangles to wear in their concentration camps...what's that asshole pence have in mind? religion poisons everything it touches and mixing teleology with politics is doubly poisonous...the fucktards are living high off the hog and howling like wolves barking at the moon...they smell blood and their lust for their "vision of faith" is running high...i'd puke if they were worth the effort...as it stands i will say "fuck these people"...steer clear of my neighborhood...i don't like nazis.

everything old is new again

the sight of "conservative" candidates as they court the yahoo vote and its money and a quick glance at the calendar tells me the awful, sickening descent into the foul presidential year of 2016 has already begun...i am a registered voter and i am inclined to make it to the polls at every opportunity ( there is a doozy of an off-year mayoral election coming up in my home town this year...a sort of dysfunctional warm-up...fine tuning the neuroreceptors to "bullshit" and bringing the loathing up to a fever pitch...there will probably be more on that in the next few months ) but that doesn't mean i believe the "interests of the people" are at the heart of the campaigns ( depending , of course, on how you define "the people"...i am inclined to believe that the elite sees themselves AS the nation so anything inimical to their interests is inimical to the national interest...but i am on the same page as gramsci ) so...in an all iww graphic post, let me say that there isn't anything new in the perception that politics is controlled by money or that the "political class" isn't anything more than a gaggle of hired whores...that goes back beyond the iww to 1789...washington was the first president because he was the richest guy in the country and madison, jay , and that "damned ass" hamilton were determined to squelch the political will of the mass with the counter-revolution they called the constitution..i would direct your attention to the journals of old bill maclay and to a close reading of the federalist papers if you have any doubts.

too late III

a short post to take notice of today's "new" new york times magazine...new columns...new features...new writers...new paper stock...new puzzles...all crammed into today's "biggest issue ever"...218 pages...103 of which are full page ads ( didn't count the half or quarter page ads ) and 100 of those are color worth $10,700,000 in advertizing revenue for today all on their own...some things never change..remember the post on the daily telegraph? ditto here.

a critical lack of objectivity

there was a news flash on the bbc as i was driving into work this morning that almost made we serve off the road... i had to pull over and breathe deeply for a few minutes until the amphetamine-like palpitations passed and the raw, intrusive facts could be processed by my ape's brain...evidence has surfaced that the prestigious london newspaper the daily telegraph had suppressed information obtained by its reporters concerning hsbc's money laundering and tax evasion services it provided to wealthy customers because of ( scandalized tone from the newsreader to punctuate the fact that the bbc does adhere to strict standards of objectivity ) the volume of hsbc's advertizing in the telegraph! say it isn't so! a corporate media outlet tailoring its content to pander to advertisers? what has become of objective journalism in this world...if this continues people may even begin to question the news on fox...some things should remain inviolate and certainly corporate media wants consumers to believe they are 1) objectively reporting ALL the information from both sides of a story and, 2)that the reliability of the information would never be distorted to enhance their financial position relative to the competition or to brand consumers to their organizations through manipulated news content...the daily telegraph will be heavily censured for this by its corporate peers...no good can come of this information becoming widely known...fortunately for the media only cranks listen to the bbc.

vermin

“…cleansing the Russian land of all vermin, of scoundrel fleas, the bedbug rich and so on. In one place they will put into prison a dozen rich men, a dozen scoundrels, half a dozen workers who shirk on the job…In another place they will be put to work cleaning latrines. In a third they will be given yellow tickets after a term in prison so that everyone will know they are harmful and can keep an eye on them. In a fourth one out of every ten idlers will be shot. The more variety the better…for only practice can devise the best methods of struggle.” V.I. Lenin from How to Organize Competition. 1917__________ Lenin’s title makes it sound somewhat harmless…but it is not…he certainly didn’t invent the process of dehumanizing enemies…that has a history that goes back well before 1917…i’ve never been a particular fan of lenin’s ( http://chemicalpariah.blogspot.com/2014/03/im-right-youre-wrong-why-are-you-still.html ) and surely without a lenin there never would have been a stalin…then again, perhaps there would have…only with another rname…it seems autocracy is a human habit…i am always struck by the “special” vocabulary used to distort and demonize the “other”…vermin figure heavily in this, “fleas” and “bedbugs” here…the Nazis were no strangers to vermin allegories…they seemed to fixate on rats as opposed to insects…memories of the plague perhaps…but all to the same effect…it still goes on today…have a look at the news…the world is full of new sub-humans…clerics and warlords denouncing “infidels” and “apostates”…vilifying, marginalizing, and beheading those who don’t share their brand of belief…on the other side late adolescent and early post-adolescent gamers firing missiles from drones at “terrorists” and “extremists”…all in a struggle to better the human condition…how ironic that they spread such misery…and it isn’t only on an international or even national scale…beyond religious, ethnic, and economic divisions some people in everyday life seem to work at expressing their own superiority by denigrating others…stereotypes…profiles...superficial judgments…humans have a habit of comparing themselves to others and finding others lacking…sorry sort of thing when we are far more alike than different…each with a set of strengths and weaknesses…each more complex than stereotypical thinking will allow…unique and yet the same…no “others”…just “us”…how do we get past that? the answer seems elegantly simple…everyone gets to tell their story and everyone has to really listen and find the commonalities, not the differences…the universals, not the specifics…how likely is that?

media war

have you noticed the cost of gasoline going up over the course of the last month or so? i have and it can be easily attributed to a small rally in the price of a barrel of oil...fair enough i suppose when a supplier has a panoply of transport addicted customers to manipulate and no credible objective oversight...i want to establish that fact a priori because it is germane to what comes next...refinery workers in 11 refineries across the country are on strike, including those at the bp/ammoco refinery in nearby whiting...they are on strike for some economic reasons but the main union contention is safety factors brought on by employee fatigue due to long shifts...concerns even a manager should be able to see...but obviously oil companies are spooked by an oil glut and employee safety ( not to mention the surrounding neighborhoods' ) are of a secondary nature in these troubled economic times ( did i say that? don't i know the government says things are improving? well...who believes lying whores? )...the corporate ( liberal my alabaster ass...they all have advertisers and editorial boards dominated by said advertisers...they are in business to make money and will sell what you buy and what those boards would like you to think...that is another post and a continuing theme however ) media will take up sides and, in the end, the commuting herd will blame "those greedy union workers" and not the profiteering oil companies...it is the way of hegemonic culture....only their world view is correct ( fucking margret thatcher and " there is no alternative"...someone should have sent that woman a copy of isaiah berlins' essay on "historical inevitability"...she is gone now..but it wasn't soon enough ) and anything that dissents from it is either fiction or treason...i wonder if i can avoid purchasing gasoline until this strike is over...worth a try...no day jaunts into the fields for awhile.