2013-06_08
12:05

People just don't listen.  This simple fact I have had a difficult time accepting, hence I need to be slapped in the face over and over before the fact sinks in.

Yesterday was the most recent slap.  I met a dude in the locker room at the gym (get your minds out of the gutter--anyway, it's consenting adults, dammit!) We engaged in a friendly, amicable politial argument about the direction of the nation, and our objections to the president's five-year reign.

As anyone who knows me or reads this mess of a blog is well aware, I think Barry has been a terrible president.  So did this fellow.  However, his stated reasons for disliking Obama (socializing the whole country, giving away too much to the poor) were very different than mine (ruinous monetary and fiscal policy that favors banks and wall street at the expense of the rest of us, a health care fiasco that enriches pharma and insurance companies at the expense of the rest of us, expanding senseless war and growing security state).

He seemed bemused by our different opinions, and commented (twice) on the beauty of the free exchange of vastly different opinions.  He closed our conversation (or attempted to do so) by saying, "It is good that we disagree; I think Obama is a bad president, while you think he is a great president."

I was momentarily speechless.  I had described my opinion of Obama as a terrible president, as clearly and as vigorously as I typically do; I had clearly stated that what struck me about our argument was our agreement on the conclusion, but our very different reasons for reaching our shared conclusion.  There was no language barrier.

Only a listening barrier.  At some point in our conversation, I have to presume, my new friend had decided 1) this dude disagrees with me; 2) no reason to listen any further to his actual words.

He looked as if he was listening; he responded with the non-verbal and verbal cues typical of someone engaged in a conversational back-and-forth that typically includes listening to one's counterparty.

But had he actually heard and even minimally processed even a fraction of my (voluminous) diatribe, concluding my opinion was that Obama is a great president would've been impossible.

But, a few minutes later, it sunk in just a bit deeper; People just do not listen.

Smart, intelligent, thinking people.  They routinely suspend processing what they see, what they hear, what they read, even what they know to be true.  They do not look, they do not listen, they do not think, because it is so much easier and so much more emotionally satisfying.

Because Amerians have been conditioned to do so, to suspend listening and other higher cognitive processes, in favor of feelings and emotions. Conditioned by literal millions of television ads, entreaties from authority figures their entire lives in school, at work, in encounters with burearcracies and commercial entities engaged in selling and 'customer service'.

Americans are out of practice, this listening and thinking thing.  Just as surely as we are out of practice for this exercise thing.  This eating healthy food thing.

We were taught when crossing a street, we must Stop, Look and Listen.  Somewhere back there, we also were taught to watch, listen and learn.  Think, too.  But, as I get slapped over and over, I need to learn (and accept), there ain't a whole lot of listening going on around here.

I continue to judge the world (and Obama) based on what I see, not what I feel, believe or emote.  Yeah, kinda lonely, this method.  Kinda concerting, too.  Cause I see a lot of bad, weird stuff.  Buildings falling down.  NSA monitoring millions of Americans making billions of phone calls.  Scandals involving the IRS, listening to and intimidating reporters, Benghazi, Fast and Furious, bankers in the cabinet, Holder committing serial perjury.  More and more media emphasis on Justin, Amanda, Paris Jackson, PEDs in baseball and other trivial bullshit.

Things are slowly, yet inexorably falling apart.  I see it; I hear the important sounds they make.  Yeah, it is frustrating because nearly everyone else don't look, don't listen, or don't think enough to be bothered.  I'm getting used to it.  

2013_06_09
11:45

Sorry updates have been tardy.  Just give me a call or email if you want my seats.

Same story as prior years.  I will put the tickets up one month at a time, since my travel plans are usually last minute, and I like to use the seats when i am visiting Cali. so around the last week of each month I will post available dates for the following month.

Tickets can be transferred electronically, instantly and securely, via the giants' web site. you can pay me with Paypal, (even though i hate those fuckers i don't have an alternative set up) or if we have done business before, just send me a check.

The giants use differential pricing, so I will list the literal face value for each date. Face value varies between $37 and $80. Price is always negotiable, up as well as down.

Here are the dates for the rest of June and July.  I'll try to keep the site updated better.
 

shoot me an email anytime, or comment on the blog.

Tue, 6/18Padres7:15p  $37 SOLD


Thu, 6/20Marlins7:15p  $48 SOLD 
Fri, 6/21Marlins7:15p   $48 SOLD

 
Fri, 7/5Dodgers7:15p   $80

Fri, 7/19D-backs7:15p $48

Mon, 7/22Reds7:15p  $48
Tue, 7/23Reds7:15p  $58
Wed, 7/24Reds7:15p  $58

Fri, 7/26Cubs7:15p   $58

2013_03_30
02:45

Ah, baseball returns.  Defending Champs, how sweet those words.  As surreal as last October was, it still has not fully sunk in for me.

Same story as prior years.  I will put the tickets up one month at a time, since my travel plans are usually last minute, and I like to use the seats when i am visiting Cali. so around the last week of each month I will post available dates for the following month.

Tickets can be transferred electronically, instantly and securely, via the giants' web site. you can pay me with Paypal, (even though i hate those fuckers i don't have an alternative set up) or if we have done business before, just send me a check.

The giants use differential pricing, so I will list the literal face value for each date. Face value varies between $37 and $80. Price is always negotiable, up as well as down.

Here are the April dates.  I'll try to keep the site updated.
 

shoot me an email anytime, or comment on the blog.

2013_03_02
10:34


There is a documentary film on the origins of the Iraq war, produced by and recently broadcast on MSNBC, called Hubris.  Dubya was asked why he was so certain when he asserted there were so many WMDs in the hands of Sadaam?  His response:  "What's the difference"?  It didn't matter that the proximate cause of the was was a lie; only that it 'might be true' or that it could happen in the future, Dubya went on to explain for us simpletons.  The village had to be destroyed to save it from future destruction.

Speaking of village metaphors, recently Hillary testified before congress, when confronted by administration lies in the wake of the Benghazi disaster, "(w)hat's the difference"?  When good Americans were gunned down as a result of mistakes, or incompetency, or merely as a result of a messy civil war/global war on terror, the fact that high government officials blatantly lied and covered up the facts doesn't matter--we got re-elected.

What's the fucking difference?  We got what we wanted (a big-ass war/a second term).

The past few years have been characterized by the complete disconnect of the ruling class of the USA from any and all accountability to the people they allegedly serve.  So complete, that the façade need not be consistently maintained.  That's hard work, pretending that such things as the rule of law and actually promoting the interests of the little people are still vital to democracy and freedom.  Damn hard work.  So, when you need a break, just exclaim a little bit of truth--What's the difference?

The complete severance of any and all accountability to the will of the masses is one of the major themes of my ranting, and I maintain one of the central themes of the past several years.  I point to a specific pair of events as but one illustration of this fact.

In 2007, a major immigration reform bill, hashed out by true bipartisan cooperation guided by Dubya was progressing to a vote.  There was something for both wings of the corporate one-party system--more cheap labor for the economic machinery (that was even then making funny noises), more brown people to be co-opted for votes.  Win-win for democrats and republicans.

However, because this bill provided 'amnesty' for illegal immigrants, a large segment of the masses, the little people, objected.  And they made their objections known; they called, wrote, and emailed their senators and representatives en masse.  Sure, email made such citizen activism much less inconvenient than actually picking up a telephone or finding a stamp.  But the little people made their wishes heard in such numbers that the bill with broad bipartisan support suddenly was in peril.

Lots of senators and representatives who had planned to vote 'yes' changed their minds.  And the bill was killed before a formal vote could be held.  The people spoke, and the politicians listened.  Pretty damn weird, but you can look it up.  This really happened.

A mere months later, during a horrific financial crisis (judging by what they showed us on the teevee), the wise and powerful leaders of our nation decided that our way of life would come to an end unless the banking system was given an $800,000,000,000.00 handout.  The famous TARP bill was hastily written, and moved to the congress for a vote.

Plenty of Americans saw this bailout for the bullshit that it was.  And they were moved, in huge numbers, to express their opinion to their representatives in congress.  And, again, a damn weird thing happened.  The TARP bill was defeated on the floor of the house.  Similar to the immigration bill a year earlier, the voice of the people stopped a steamroller powered by the political leaders.

Now, the Rest of the Story.  Since what was at stake was not merely the free flow of cheap labor and cheap votes, but actual cold hard cash (and a lot of it), the true constituents of the political leaders stepped in.  Arms were twisted, promises were made, threats were made too, and the $800 billion giveaway returned to the house floor.  Despite hundreds of thousands more phone calls, letters and emails flowed forth from the little people, the pleas were ignored.  The bill passed, the money given away, the politicians reminded that we no longer bother with listening to what the people want.   You just do what we want--and snap to it!

The power of big money--corporations, the most powerful industries (finance, pharmaceutical, oil and other energy, military industrial complex, et al) has long competed with the power of large numbers of citizens/voters.  The relative power has ebbed and flowed over our history.  But the ratio now has a big zero factor in the middle of the equation.  The power and influence of the people has dwindled to zero.  This happened gradually; i do not mean to imply that it happened all of a sudden when TARP passed.  That was just a symptom of the zero condition, where we remain stuck.  The condition that allows the most powerful leaders to sincerely and accurately proclaim, What's the Difference?

There are many reasons that led to this sorry condition. Ultimately the responsibility lies with the people of the USA who allowed this to occur, and allow this to continue; by their apathy, ignorance and assent, overt and implied.

(Sorry, bubba, they, not we.  I am certainly guilty of apathy, ignorance and overt assent to the system at periodic times of my life.  I don't claim 100% innocence.  But none of those descriptive labels characterize me overall through my lifetime, and certainly not at all over the past five years.  Shit, I've marched with the Tea Party and with Occupy Wall Street.  I even wrote polite and respectable emails and letters to Senator Hillary and Representative Nancy, as well as to others.   Desperate times, and all.)

The past five years have shown the relentless continuation of the destruction of our labor market and our domestic manufacturing capacity, of broadening warfare across Asia, the Middle East and Africa, diminution of the civil rights of privacy, protest and keeping/bearing arms,  even of life itself if you are deemed an enemy of the state, of funneling of the wealth away from the shrinking productive/working class toward the wealthy entities, with some crumbs tossed downward to keep the growing underclass passive and quiet.  The entirety of the policies of the Federal Reserve and the rest of government economic interventions, acting in concert to inflate the currency, manipulate the asset markets and steadfastly fuel the enrichment of a very few financial firms and other entities.  I have droned on about the specifics over the years.  I could drone further on the sequester, the restoration of the payroll tax rate, the horror that is the financial morass of Medicare/Medicaid and all the rest of the medical-industrial complex, and the coming austerity being imposed by the president and his minions upon our sheepish nation.

But, What's the Difference?  When Dubya spoke this phrase, I am quite sure roughly 45% of the tiny fraction of the nation that noticed at all nodded in agreement, while roughly 45% disdainfully sneered.  When Hillary uttered the same three words, same result.  Almost no one pays any attention.  Of the few who do, nearly all of them respond in pre-programmed Red vs Blue terms ('oh, I know my side are no angels, but THE OTHER GUYS ARE SO MUCH WORSE, I have to support my side, there is no alternative).

What's the Difference when few are aware, few care, and the rest will vote red or blue regardless?  Why the hell should the politicians heed the will of the people when it costs them nothing to ignore it? 

What's the Difference indeed.

2013_02_16
16:30

2012_09_15
12:45

that is the succinct version of the current model for economic recovery and growth.  print money.  lie about, well everything.  why they are printing money, where the money is headed, how the newly printed money is going to drastically increase the price of gasoline and food (just like the last two times they printed money on this scale), how that increase in prices isn't really 'inflation', and most of all, what the effect on job growth will actually be (zero).

i haven't had much to say lately.  the steady pace of disgusting events is so disheartening, and the direction of march to a horrific reckoning so unwavering, as well as obvious, i feel there is little to say. 

the prior rounds of money printing by the federal reserve could, i suppose, be credibly expected by some folks to yield some positive effects on the economy.  (beyond simply delaying and worsening the inevitable consequences of the failed system resting of trillions of dollars of debt that cannot/will not ever be repaid.)  but the results of those prior actions are in.  they failed.  they failed to achieve the announced goals, although they succeeded in the actual goals of enriching the failed banks and maintaining the status quo for a couple more years.

if QE1 or QE2 had succeeded, there would be no need for QE3.  if the economy was not completely screwed today, there would be no reason to print $40 billion per month (or more), until the economy is fixed.

it is really that simple.  the action of the fed this week is a simple admission of failure.  and an admission of ben and barry and the gang that they have no fucking idea what to do next.  so they will just do what failed previously.

at least, the banks and wall street will get first crack at that $40 billion a month.  and they will maintain their salaries and bonuses.  and they will have a small tax skimmed off the top--to 'contribute' to mitt and barry's election campaigns.

the lies are essential, to mask the simple truth from us.  to convince us that inflation is actually ~2%, despite the truth of gas and food prices.  to convince us that the unemployment rate is actually ~8%,  despite the truth of more people and a higher percentage of people on food stamps than ever before.  or the truth of a lower percentage of working age people actually employed since the great depression.

or the biggest lie.  that a presidential election contested between mitt and barry makes a bit of difference in the direction of the country, the economy, the death of the rule of law for corporations and wealthy individuals, the erosion of justice and personal privacy for the rest of us and the growth and spread of foreign wars, foreign murder and other military actions.

the electoral process is corrupted.  completely corrupted by money.  not only does voting for president not matter (even in the state of florida, which has the privilege of actually electing the president), but voting for senators or representatives has been rendered equally meaningless.  unless you are a literal millionaire, and contribute enough money to be heard.

to think redemption of this corrupt electoral process can be found through voting is wrong.  as illogical as the idea that the economic flaw of too much debt can be fixed by more debt.  more voting, for the 'right people' is not going to work.  sorry, but that is the current reality.

even the fantasy that a couple of slightly less bad supreme court appointees can begin to rectify the horrendous state of our republic cannot be reasonably indulged.  first, supreme court justices can not be counted upon to do what is expected--solid conservative chief justice john roberts, appointed by dubya, twists his legal logic into a pretzel and votes for the health care reform bill.  earl warren is the next best example.  remember that when an obama appointee from the next four years votes in favor of continued corporate personhood or continued government surveillance, torture or war down the road.

second, even 1) if obama is reelected; 2) if he gets one or two sotus picks in his second term; 3) if a major ruling like Citizens United is revisited; 4) if it is overturned; 5) if the result works its way through lower courts and the complex corporate/justice web of deceit money and lackey lower court judges, and the pernicious effects of corporate personhood actually begin to be reversed in real life.

that process will take many years.  maybe a couple of decades.  and, bubba, we ain't got that much time left.

the economy will not survive many more years, much less decades.  the economy was completely screwed in 2007-08.  they have fixed nothing.  they admitted this week that the economy is so broken, they have to take this extraordinary measure, again, for the third time, to fix it.  even though the repair failed twice before.

so that is another 'if' to add to the five 'ifs' above.  that particular fantasy, of slightly less bad supreme court members is the only reason to vote that is not a blatant lie.  any serious, honest assessment of democratic and republican actions of the past thirty years clearly shows bilateral, bipartisan actions to unleash banks and corporations from the shackles of taxes and regulation to the ruin of the middle and working classes; to expand war and militarism abroad for the sake of oil (and just for the power of it); to outsource jobs and manufacturing to mexico, then to southeast asia, then to china, in the name of 'free trade'; to continuing building the central security state of spying, surveillance, militarized local police and criminalization of protest and dissent.  obama's actual behavior of the past three and 2/3rd years has been in lockstep with each and every one of these evils.  as the old rabbi said at the climax of the excellent coen brothers film A Serious Man, "When the truth is found…to be lies".  (yeah, all the love within me has died…well almost all.)

but, so many people seem to prefer the comfort of some of those lies, finding the truth to be but cold comfort.

bryce harper is the sixth teenager to hit 10 or more home runs in a single season; which did this in a giants uniform?