Archive for May, 2018

Plow Shares And Swords.  Oh, And Happy Memorial Day! (May 28, 2018)

Posted in Draft, Hypocrisy, Iran, Iraq, Kleptocracy, Perjury, Perjury/Dishonesty, Security State, Society, Syria, Terrorism, Vietnam, War on May 28, 2018 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “A sword in one hand, a plow share in the other.”

J          “On this planet, you cannot carry one without the other.”

. . .

K          “I’ll put down the plow and pick up the sword in defense of the village, but not based on a lie.”

J          “If not for lies, there would be far fewer wars.”

K          “They lied, kids died.”

J          “But not their kids.”

. . .

[See the e-ssay titled “The Flag (May 31, 2010)” and the e-commentary at “In Memoriam (May 26, 2014)” and “Reinstate The Draft; Reduce The Demand For War (Somewhat). Oh, And Happy Veterans Day! (November 6, 2017)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:  [Big bumper]

When considering the reliability of information provided to you by the government of the United States of America, it is important that you recall and reflect:

They fibbed about Viet Nam.

They fibbed about Cambodia.

They fibbed about Laos.

They fibbed about Cuba.

They fibbed about El Salvador.

They fibbed about Nicaragua.

They fibbed about Guatemala.

They fibbed about Panama.

They fibbed about Honduras.                                                    

They fibbed about Venezuela.

They fibbed about Chile.

They fibbed about the Spanish American War.

They fibbed about the Mexican War.

They fibbed about Pearl Harbor.

They fibbed about 9/11.

They fibbed about Osama bin Laden.

They fibbed about Afghanistan.

They fibbed about Kuwait.

They fibbed about Iraq.

They fibbed about Saddam Hussein.

They fibbed about Libya.

They fibbed about Muammar Gaddafi.

They are fibbing about Yemen.

They are fibbing about Somalia.

They are fibbing about Sudan.

They are fibbing about Syria.

They are fibbing about Palestine.

They are fibbing about Iran.

They are fibbing about Ukraine.

They are fibbing about Niger.

They are fibbing about the War on Terror.

They are fibbing.

They do not seem to be telling the truth.

Things really did not turn out so super in Nicaragua, Grenada, Panama, Haiti, Bosnia, Serbia, Somalia, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Pakistan, Iraq and Syria, but who is counting?

But who cares?

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The Taxonomy Of The American Economy (May 21, 2018)

Posted in Class, Economics, Kleptocracy, Race on May 21, 2018 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “The economic and political system exists for the benefit of the one one-thousandths of one percenters (.001 %) and the remaining members of the One Percenters (.999 %).  The Four Percenters (4 %) include the schooled servants squiring to the needs of the One Percenters.”

J          “The tax lawyers, obeisant judges, lecherous lobbyists, teeth whitening dentists, pliant politicians, public relations spin doctors, officious bureaucrats, tummy-tuck plastic surgeons, and their ilk.”

K          “As long as they obey and play, they get the pay.”

J          “They say.  The Fifteen Percenters (15 %) may stay a pay check or two ahead of calamity, yet many are never really economically secure or free of the nagging concerns that haunt them at three in the morning.”

K          “The butcher, the baker and the candle stick maker.  The good old Middle Class.  The good old Middle Class has been badly butchered, baked and left in the dark and the dirt.  Is it even as high as fifteen percent if you factor in the insecure position of so many of them?”

J          “Beneath them are the Eighty Percenters (80 %) who have desperately little chance of ever participating in the American dream.”

. . .

J          “The Dow and the Russell 5000 Index and such metrics measure the economic situation and security of the Five Percenters, not of the general public.  Assessing the real economy requires one to study metrics such as the U6 measure of unemployment of those who were making under $50,000 when they were fired or laid off, opioid use, child mortality rates, consumer debt loads, etc.”   

K          “The poor, the dispossessed, the downtrodden, the unwashed masses, [the] hoi polloi, the sheeple are summoned on election day for an hour to vote their fears and hopes and summarily disregarded the rest of the time.”

J          “Seems we could do better.”

. . .

[See “Shadow Stats” collected by John Williams and navigate the site and the sources.]

[See the e-commentary titled “The Microeconomics of Suburban Subsistence (February 7, 2005)”, “The Microeconomics of Suburban Subsistence: Three Years Later (February 4, 2008)” and “Justice Is a Middle Class Creation, Delusion and Aspiration (March 20, 2017)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Feed the homeless to the hungry

The beatings will continue until morale improves

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Graduation Advice:  Eat Dessert.  First. (May 14, 2018)

Posted in Graduation Advice on May 14, 2018 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Eat dessert.  First.”

. . .

K          “Ladies and gentlemen of the class of ’18 . . . Eat dessert.  First. . . .  If I could offer you only one tip for the future, eat dessert.  First.  would be it.”

. . .

K          “And wear sun screen and hearing protection and chainsaw safety chaps.”

. . .

J          “Go East, young person.  Go to Rome, D.C. and get in on the looting before it is too late.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Graduation Advice:  Wear Chainsaw Safety Chaps; Cut With Care (May 15, 2017)”, “Graduation Advice:  Wear Hearing Protection; Listen Attentively (May 16, 2016)” and the advice to youth at “Go East, Young Person (August 25, 2014)”.] 

Bumper sticker of the week:

Wear sun screen and hearing protection and chainsaw safety chaps and eat dessert.  First. 

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The Medium Mandates The Message.  Analog v. Digital: Monopolization & Monetization. Oh, And Happy World Press Freedom Day! (May 7, 2018)

Posted in Antitrust, Awards / Incentives, Blog, Cyberactivities, Journalism, Monopoly, Newspapers, Press/Media, Pulitzer, Pushitzer, Technology, Truth on May 7, 2018 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Analog affirms the status quo, digital negates it.  Challenges it, really, with a goodly number of exceptions.”

J          “Yet digital is moving toward and merging with the analog business model which is all about business.  Analog is already monopolized.  Digital is aggressively monetizing.”

K          “The medium mandates the message.”

. . .

K          “Some of the digital messengers are not as beholden to the powers that be as the analog members.  Digital messengers are more likely to connect two disparate and distant points, to realize that two plus zero is not three, and to accept that two or more persons can work together to reach an end, usually to the public’s detriment.”

J          “A few stray digital messengers are acting as the town criers.  The best that a commentator of conviction can hope for is to be a prophet with honor and not to be convicted for writing that challenges the established disorder.”

K          “But no one is listening.”

J          “Makes you want to cry for your town.”

. . .

K          “Six corporations monopolize the popular media.  Most of the digital sites are in the monetization phase and may be forced to modify or mute the original message to survive.”

J          “Yet you cannot thrive if you do not survive.  Decades ago, the editor noted to a friend on the first day of his summer newspaper internship that the most important mission of the newspaper is to make payroll.  No payroll, no paper.  He was not disappointed by the stark insight.”   

K          “Making payroll is painful.  One of the sites challenging inequality has something like seven levels of membership and another sells t-shirts and decoder rings.”

J          “No can thrive if no can survive.” 

. . .

K          “Digital is regressing to the mean, digital is regressing to analog.”

J          “No can thrive if no can survive.”

. . .

[With a nod to Marshall McLuhan.]

[See the e-commentary at “First Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2016 (April 18, 2016)”, “Boycott (Advertisers On) AM (Anger Mongering) Radio (March 5, 2011)”, “World Trade Center Building 7 And The AIA (May 18, 2015)”, “A ‘Journalist’ Declares War On Journalists . . . And Journalism (November 28, 2016)”, “Dispatches From The War On Journalism: The New ‘Nixon’s Enemies List’ (December 5, 2016)”, “Blogging Bloggingly About Blogs:  A Thing In Search Of A Name (November 1, 2016)”, “Debasing The Dialogue (April 14, 2014)” and “On Courage and Truth (March 17, 2008)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”  Eric Hoffer

“Only the small secrets need to be protected.  The big ones are kept secret by public incredulity.”  Marshall McLuhan

May 3 – World Press Freedom Day

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