Society | e-commentary

Archive for the Society Category

Monitoring The Masses: The Card And The Chip (January 12, 2015)

Posted in Banks and Banking System, Boycott Series, Civil Rights/Civil Liberties, Crime/Punishment, Cyberactivities, First Amendment, Freedom / Liberty, Gold, Guns, Our Future?, Plastic, Pogo Plight, Police, Privacy, Silver, Society, Technology, Terrorism on January 12, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

X “Failure to present The Card, even when there is no cause or provocation, will result in immediate incarceration and summary disposition. If The Card is not physically maintained within a fathom of The Chip, The Chip will transmit a warning signal to Headquarters and trigger an unwelcome visit.”

Z “I hear you. Coming to a country near you. Everyone is now familiar with a credit, a debit or an EBT card, so the transition will be unnoticed and unchallenged. All movement, travel, purchases and sales will be monitored at all times by The Chip implanted at birth without permission. Cash will be non-existent and free movement only a memory. A few rebels may barter surreptitiously, yet bartering will be more than a mere failure to report income and will also result in immediate summary disposition. Possession of any precious metals such as Fe, Pb, Au or Ag will be strictly prohibited and swiftly prosecuted.”

X “Plastic cards have encouraged excessive over-consumption to date, yet they could also be used to ration scarce resources in the future. Market the idea to the public with unrelenting fear. ‘We’ need to adopt the system to protect us from The Terrorists.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Today’s science fiction is tomorrow’s science fact.

Today’s science fiction is tomorrow’s political and economic fact.

Are your papers in order? Is your plastic in order?

When the big boys make a run on the bank and demand a repatriation of their gold, should the little guys make a run on the bank and demand a return of their fiat dollars?

Nous sommes Charlie? Is the concern freedom of expression for all or only for some?

Boycott TurboTax: See Internet

Leave a comment »

Marital Musings (December 22, 2014)

Posted in Civil Rights/Civil Liberties, Constitution, Courts, Economics, Gold Standard, Kleptocracy, Movie Reference, Radio, Russia, Silver Standard, Society, Sports, Supreme Court on December 28, 2014 by e-commentary.org

. . .

H1 “So she said we had to set aside some time for a conversation. I knew it would get bad.”

H2 “You don’t get to say anything.”

H1 “Except when spoken to. So she said she had to confess that she was thinking about someone else while we were in medias res. And she said that she was now happy to have gotten if off her chest. I said that was fine. She could be thinking about Mr. Magoo if it will get us through the night. From my perspective, if I can handle the kitchen remodel, junior can get braces. But it ended up not being fine. I should have been upset. She was upset that I was not upset. I was beginning to get sort of upset that she was upset that I was not upset.”

H2 “Nothing about Gina Lollobrigida.”

H1 “She would have exercised the proviso ‘til death do us part’ and parted with me.”

. . .

H2 “She asked if I noticed that she had put on weight. I had not noticed, so I told her that I had not noticed. I am thinking that I get 100 points for candor and honesty and being a great guy and for being a little oblivious. Maybe an MVP award and a hall pass.”

H1 “And she was upset that you were not upset. And it was Katie bar the door with Katie showing you the door.”

H2 “I didn’t get a pass. I told her that once she made the cut and was on the team, things like that did not really matter.”

H1 “And she parsed every phrase.”

H2 “‘Made the cut’ and ‘on the team’ are two separate concepts. Saying that it is like two wrestlers who make weight and then each go off and have bacon cheeseburgers did not assuage her anxiety.”

. . .

H1 “We conversed with a counselor who opined about psychological affairs versus physical affairs and provided few insights to address our financial affairs.”

H2 “Do you think he was safe?”

H1 “She is sure that we only talk about sex.”

H2 “Safe by a mile. Replay is clear.”

. . .

[See the latest sophistry from the Supreme Court that vitiates the Fourth Amendment. http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/13-604_ec8f.pdf. An illegal stop is an illegal stop and not a legal stop.]

[See the commentary at “Henrietta And Henry O, Two Young Lovers: The Contemporary Gift Of The Magi (December 27, 2010).”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“Honey, would you rather I were making love to him using your name, or making love to you using his name?” Annie Savoy, Bull Durham (1988)

Russian Exceptionalism > or = or < American Nationalism

The COMEX is instituting trading collars for the sale of gold and silver. And the answer to Will Shortz’ “Sunday Puzzle” seeking the correct anagram for “Comex” is . . . “Fraud.”

Leave a comment »

A Tête-à-Tête On Tats (December 1, 2014)

Posted in Personal Stories Series, Personal Story, Society, Tats on December 1, 2014 by e-commentary.org

. . .

1 “I do not get it.”

2 “You’re too old.”

1 “I get it.”

. . .

1 “This old futbal coach would ask whether you were drunk or just stupid. Coach’s sentiments still animate this old boy. I always thought you had to be a soldier, sailor, carny or criminal. Today, soccer moms sport ink.”

2 “There may be nothing left for the young to rebel against. Long hair? Shaved head? Shabby threads? Flashy clothes? Everything has been done or not done or undone. What do you do or not do?”

1 “Perhaps the ultimate form of rebellion is to rebel against the rebels.”

. . .

1 “Some may want to proclaim that things were not copacetic at home. I am not objective about it, but I maintain that I have been an avuncular uncle who has been dismissed unfairly by my nephew. Is that grounds for me to toy with a tat?”

2 “‘Nephew’s a brat; I got a tat.’ For me, I do not deserve a tat because my parents were not bad people, but they warrant one: ‘Our son was a dishonor student’ or even something more candid.”

. . .

2 “If a person defaces something, the authorities will come down on him or her. If a person even makes a face, the authorities will come down on him or her. Yet a person is still free to deface – or perhaps debody – himself or herself without legal consequence. The last unregulated canvas of personal expression.”

1 “Dubbing it a ‘tramp stamp’ is revealing. Hiding it is also revealing. Are the public messages a threatening signal to the public to get away and leave them alone? Are they trying to make themselves unemployable? That is a way of letting others know that you want to be left alone.”

2 “They may be art works akin to cave paintings that one sports and transports. An epidermal bulletin board for personal expression.”

1 “Don’t get me wrong. I am all about the First Amendment and restraining government interference. At times, however, social restraint and individual self-control are appropriate. You do not always have to do what you are free to do. What happens when you change your mind?”

. . .

1 “You?”

2 “It isn’t me. Mom knows that she is my anchor. Plus I don’t deserve it.”

1 “Getting old?”

2 “Gettin’ there.”

. . .

1 “The next great fortune will be made by someone who creates a tattoo removal technique and then patents and franchises it.”

2 “Open the tattoo removal shop next to the tattoo parlor. ‘Tats Rn’t Us’ next door to ‘Tats R Us’.”

1 “The tattoo puller next to the tattoo pusher.”

. . .

Tattoos of the week:

Mom

Anchor

U.S. Navy

Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’Education, la Science et la Culture

Jesus loves me and my tattoos

Scars are tattoos with better stories

http://www.tatfreesingles.com

Nobody Cares

Leave a comment »

Don’t Fight The Fed; Fight The Fed (August 4, 2014)

Posted in Federal Reserve, Society, Stock Market on August 4, 2014 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K “As an investor, ‘Don’t Fight the Fed.’ The Fed is creating and flooding the market with digital dollars and spawning an otherwise unfounded rise in the price of stocks. Surf the collective delusion, but gauge when the Fed has played its hand and then beat the flood of funds out of the market.”

J “Ya gotta know when to fold ‘em.”

. . .

K “As a citizen, ‘Fight the Fed.’ The Fed is the banker’s private club that profoundly and often negatively impacts the economy and lives of every ordinary American with desperately little public input.”

J “Ya gotta know when to hold ‘em. Accountable.”

. . .

J “So just when do I fold ‘em?”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Don’t End The Fed, Do Mend The Fed

The Fed: Lifting the yachts but not the tugboats and rowboats. Since 1913.

Leave a comment »

Profile In Cowardice Award (May 12, 2014)

Posted in Awards / Incentives, Cyberactivities, Judges, On [Traits/Characteristics], Press/Media, Privacy, Society on May 12, 2014 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K “Brooksley Born and Sheila Bair courageously challenged the kleptocracy in America. The Committee did not delay too long waiting to gauge their hipness or political correctness. For good measure, they also awarded themselves the award in 2009. Yet the award for 2014 is devoid of . . . courage.”

J “And integrity and vision. The Committee went craven this year and should receive a special Profile in Cravenness Award. There is not a scintilla of doubt that Edward Snowden should have won hands down for standing up courageously this past year.”

K “The Profile in Courage Award suffers from the same myopia as the awards for most Rhodes, some Pulitzers and the Nobel in E-con-omics. The pool is constricted and confined at the outset to a small number recipients who can be counted on not to do or say anything really imaginative, creative or, with an award ostensibly celebrating courage, . . . courageous.”

J “Failing to acknowledge true talent is a tremendous lost opportunity and only heightens cynicism. Society is giving the wrong signals. Only those connected need apply.”

K “Those in power candidly admitted that Snowden did not go to the right schools or belong to the right clubs. Those who make the decisions did not aspire to play squash or go yachting with him.”

. . .

J “Those who criticize him for departing the United States fail to understand how much courage it took to take a stand in the face of the venal and vindictive federal criminal justice system in America.”

K “What if the United States gave him asylum from the United States in the United States? Strength in response to courage. That will never happen in a nation debilitated by fear and motivated by hatred.”

J “No matter how things stay the same, they stay the same.”

. . .

[See the article on the impact of political ideology on First Amendment decisions at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/06/us/politics/in-justices-votes-free-speech-often-means-speech-i-agree-with.html and the commentary at The Supreme Court On Drugs (June 25, 2007) (“The Court’s new First Amendment test is two-fold: 1) who is making the expression and 2) what is being expressed. That is not what the Founding Fathers intended.”)]

[See the commentary on courage and truth at On Courage and Truth (March 17, 2008).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Pardon Edward Snowden

Free James Risen

Award James Hansen

Pusillanimity is bad form

Leave a comment »

‘Mericanize: Monetize, Mechanize And Militarize (December 30, 2013)

Posted in Economics, Energy, Kleptocracy, Markets, Military, Pogo Plight, Society on December 30, 2013 by e-commentary.org

. . .

C1 “America makes nothing but monetizes everything.”

C2 “And makes things up.”

C1 “We make up fake money, but we cannot make up fake energy. We need to energize not monetize. We need to measure the energy inputs and environmental outputs before we do or make or consume anything. Money is not the measure and sends the wrong signals.”

C2 “Even by their own terms, money and markets are far too broken to work either efficiently or equitably today.”

C1 “We aid and abet the rich players taking money electronically from the poor and middle class.”

C2 “Everything is an accounting hijink and a legal mirage concocted by the accountants and the lawyers.”

C1 “And the e-con-omists. Everything is virtual; nothing is real.”

. . .

C1 “Now they are proclaiming that the great American heartland will be saved by the construction of new factories and a renaissance in manufacturing. However, the typical factory does not actually employ more than two employees who turn on and monitor the machine.”

C2 “And billions are spent to keep those two employees from receiving a slightly higher minimum wage.”

C1 “Economic slaves make unprofitable consumers.”

. . .

C1 “The response in Boston is another display of the militarization of society. The town was invaded by American storm troopers who dressed and acted like they were invading Fallujah or Kandahar.”

C2 “We lost the race years ago. The camo armored personnel carrier replaced the black and white Crown Victoria Police Interceptor. The .308 replaced the .38. Kevlar® replaced khaki.”

C1 “The old saw says it all: ‘A YouTube video is worth ten thousand words.’ The vignettes told the most harrowing stories as the militarized police broke into houses and pulled citizens out of their homes. A few folks were shocked, a few were outraged, and a few were disgusted, yet there was an undertone of acceptance and obeisance.”

C2 “We are lost. We are neutered and anesthetized.”

. . .

C1 “We are the Etch-A-Sketch® society. Nothing is real or permanent.”

C2 “We are the Play-Doh® people. No spine and no substance. Malleable as clay. There is no there there.”

. . .

[See the “e-ssays” titled Minimum Wage and Maximum Earners (July 31, 2006), Racing Backwards; Moving Forward? (July 27, 2009), Occupy America: The “Bonus March/Chicago Police Riot/Kent State” Of 2011? (October 17, 2011) and Men In Pink: Today’s Sensitive New SWAT Togs (August 20, 2012).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Too much information, too little insight

Everything is virtual; nothing is real

Energize don’t marginalize

We need fewer folks chasing fewer flora and far fewer fauna

The cup is one sixteenth full

In the end, the physicists always triumph over the e-con-omists

Leave a comment »

Foot Longs and Football (September 2, 2013)

Posted in Football, Fracking, Health Care, Perjury, Perjury/Dishonesty, Pogo Plight, Society, Sports on September 2, 2013 by e-commentary.org

. . .

F1 “One is bad for us and the other is bad for them.”

F2 “How about hot dog buns and pig skin antics. Today’s version of bread and circuses.”

F1 “The fans poison themselves in the stands while the combatants bang their heads on the field.”

F2 “And on the heads of their opponents.”

F1 “Those who make it to the top have been pummeled for years if not decades and performed on Friday nights and then Saturday afternoons and then all day on Sunday.”

F2 “And on Monday and Thursday and Wednesday and Tuesday.”

. . .

F1 “America was about education, now it is about revenue sports. Two sports are the revenue sports in high school, in college and in the prose.”

F2 “College combatants do not even receive workmens’ compensation insurance coverage while on the job let alone a share of the profits. We celebrate Labor Day but do not reward them for their labor.”

. . .

F2 “The NFL executives testified before Congress in 2009, under oath as always, that repeated head contact by players has not been shown to lead to brain injury. One representative, Linda Sánchez, noted that their testimony is the same as the tobacco company executives denying the link between smoking and lung disease.”

F1 “Every generation can be defined by its Big Lie.”

F2 “The danger from fracking also may be our generations’ Big Lie.”

. . .

F1 “There are rumors of a legal settlement with a gang of retired gladiators who are suffering all manner of predictable maladies. Most settlements include a provision enjoining future violations, but the games go on.”

. . .

[See the article at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/sports/football/29hearing.html.]

[See the “e-ssay” titled Gettin’ Health Risks Right (June 25, 2012) discussing the Big Lies of past generations.]

Bumper sticker of the week:

Play ball

Leave a comment »

Boycott The Olympic Boycott (August 12, 2013)

Posted in Boycott Series, Gay Politics, Government Regulation, Russia, Society, Sports on August 12, 2013 by e-commentary.org

. . .

A “Boycotts are often the most effective moral and economic means to vote against oppression and repression or in favor of truth and justice. Do not buy a product or do buy another product. However, boycotting an Olympics is more of an act to ‘cut off your nose to spite your face.’”

B “Spite and nose cutting are not pretty.”

A “Send the athletes to compete. The Olympics are often expressions of nationalism, jingoism and aggression with all manner of doping, deception and dishonesty. However, there is the possibility that a hard-working kid gets a chance at a bigger stage and a few minutes on the winner’s podium.”

B “Even if the Russian policy toward gays and gay marriage is reactionary, America should react by sending its athletes who have trained hard to perform.”

A “Prevailing at an away game on foreign soil and celebrating with restraint is always more sublime.”

. . .

B “Let the pitchers pitch.”

A “Pitch your pitch on the pitch.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Play ball!

Just win, baby, with dignity and without dope.

Leave a comment »

The Endless War On Women . . . By American Warriors (July 22, 2013)

Posted in Congress, Crime/Punishment, Drones, Due Process, Equal Protection, Military, O'Bama, Society on July 22, 2013 by e-commentary.org

. . .

C1 “It could not be disregarded, so the predecessor to former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates issued a statement denunciating the rape. It could not be disregarded, so then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates issued a statement denunciating the rape. It could not be disregarded, so then Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta issued a statement denunciating the rape. It could not be disregarded, so Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel issues a statement denunciating the rape. It could not be disregarded, so the successor to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel will issue a statement denunciating the rape. It could not be disregarded, so the successor to the successor to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel will issue a statement denunciating the rape.”

C2 “Perhaps they could concoct a Department of Defense formal form denunciation and describe it as ‘Form DD 1.’”

C1 “The official DoD ‘Bedbug Letter.’ Explanations in the military are simple. What goes on goes on because the superiors want it to go on. What the superiors do not want to go on will not go on, with only a few rogue exceptions that can be punished swiftly and publicly.”

C2 “The Commander-In-Chief is at the top of the pile.”

C1 “So they want it to go on. In this man’s army, however, that war would not go on.”

. . .

[Is a “Drones Unlimited” organization akin to “Ducks Unlimited” or “Trout Unlimited” or “Cape Buffalos Unlimited” on the horizon? http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/07/17/us/17reuters-usa-colorado-drones.html?hp&_r=0.]

Bumper sticker of the week:

Join the military; get raped

Leave a comment »

On Community (June 3, 2013)

Posted in Community, Guns, Pogo Plight, Society on June 3, 2013 by e-commentary.org

. . .

A “Seems that you have the ‘guns and ammo’ crowd and the ‘beans and band aids’ folks.”

B “The ‘bullets and bandoliers’ boys and the ‘kumbaya and jambalaya’ community.”

A “The ‘whole wheat set’ espouses something called ‘community’ that sounds good but is far more elusive to achieve. My long-term study of the ‘community clan’ continues. ‘Develop community’ is a more mature and rational response to the challenges ahead, but most of the adherents would not respond that way in a pinch.”

. . .

A “I wonder if we are too late and too far gone.”

B “We may be too self-indulgent, self-absorbed and selfish to take care of anyone but ourselves.”

A “We have been acculturated to behave as a self-interested consumer consumed with our self and our interests and our own consumption. We collect stuff but are certain that our stuff is better stuff than the next guy’s stuff, so everything is righteous.”

B “When we are really challenged, we will need to fundamentally retool our soul and learn to use hand tools. The transition will be wrenching and will require us to use wrenches.”

. . .

[See the “e-ssay” titled “Beans and Bullets (April 6, 2009).”]

Bumper sticker of the week:

It’s all about me

Leave a comment »

Archive for the Society Category

. . .

Pages