Productivity Continues To Rise, Wages Continue To Fall

The New York Times reported that wages have fallen to their lowest point relative to productivity since they began taking data in 1947. But P.Bush, always the delusional optimist (which is nicer than calling him an outright liar) stated recently that "Things are good for the American Worker." A NYTimes Editorial said that comment was "preposterous".

My job review's coming up soon. Somehow I bet my boss will try to sell me on the idea that, for the fifth year in a row, I don't need a raise that keeps pace with inflation. Instead I get a 5yr pin, a company party, and the assurance that I should be so lucky to have a job in this economy.. Think of all those poor auto workers. Meanwhile, a large deposit is made somewhere in the Cayman Islands.....


Toil and Toil Til You Burst a Bubble
in your stress-addled brain, that's what you'll get for your trouble.

Random Revolutionary Thoughts

Business Entitlements Are Costing Michigan Too Much

My Republican-controlled state legislature (with the help of that old-school fat cat Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson) decided to do an end-run around our Democratic governor and repealed the state's Single Business Tax (SBT) last week. You see, the Governor vowed to veto the bill unless there was a viable plan to replace the $2,000,000,000 in state revenue it produced -especially at a time when our state's economy is suffering from corporate outsourcing and auto-related factory closures (there's no such thing as patriotism when it comes to your profit, eh boys?). It's common sense right? Just like a real person wouldn't quit their job unless they had another one lined up first, or at least was operating at a comfortable surplus. It's the RESPONSIBLE thing to do. But it's not the Repubican thing to do.

Our Fearless Leader (Blustering, Bumbling, Blundering Bush) has shown our state Republicans (by example) that just because you don't have a viable plan for the future doesn't mean you can't charge ahead and spend as much as you like - especially if YOU ALREADY GOT YOURS. It seems to be the Republicans job to dump as much of the tax burden on the working class as possible, then wait for a Democratic politician to come along and clean up the scattered debris of failed Republican economic policies - like the disaster left by another old-school fat cat, Governor John Engler. Businesses now feel ENTITLED to massive tax breaks to stay in or come to any particular state- regardless of how much or how many of that state's resources they use while pursuing a profit. They just pass the tax burden onto the little guy. Somehow, I doubt it will be any different this time.

Someday soon, without a living wage, without any health-care, without overtime, a pension, or a single pot to piss in - we'll be coming to your gated communities by the busload and knocking on your mahogany & leaded glass doors to collect our share of your tax-free windfalls. When we do, you'd better hope the local police department got their millage increase.

The Hunting Of The President

I just got done watching The Hunting of The President on DVD. It's a documentary that tells the story of the six-year, $70,000,000 debacle that started as a alleged real estate malfeasance (for which the Clintons were completely exonerated) and ended in several friends being abused and/or jailed by the special prosecutor for what would ultimately prove to be a failed attempt to impeach President Clinton for lying about a extramarital affair - a subject for his religious or marriage counselor perhaps, but hardly worth the time, money and resources of the U.S. taxpayers - however salacious their appetites.

My quick review is that the movie serves as an fairly thorough account of the dirty tricks and the dirty players involved in the "vast right-wing conspiracy" (which proves to be pretty much just as the First Lady alleged). It focuses mostly on whitewater, the Arkansas connections and Susan McDougal - who chose two years in jail over lying for the so-called independent council. The producers would have done well, however, to avoid the menacing soundtrack that served as a backdrop throughout most of the film because it only cheapens the seriousness of the subject matter - the abuse of power by, not The President, but the right-wing politicos who used every dirty trick they could purchase with your hard-earned tax dollars to defame him.

But the real cream of this DVD is not so much the film itself (though it serves the story well) but the comments of President Bill Clinton himself in the special features, shot on stage at the film's debut. It made me realize what a truly brilliant man and gifted speaker Bill Clinton is, and by contrast what an empty vessel and dim-witted tool we have in the White House now.

In his thought provoking and historically contextualized comments, Clinton transcended even my unabashed cynicism and gave me hope for our country when I thought there could be none. He reminded me that, however badly I might want revenge for the bullshit the neo-cons and Federalist Society demons have put us through, that we're not them and it does nothing to serve the greater good of our country. Eventually, and despite them, we'll forge ahead and make progress. History demands it.

Clinton is way smarter than I ever gave him credit for while he was president - and boy do I miss him now. We should all miss him now. Despite his very banal and human failings, he's truly a fair and decent man and history will undoubtedly vindicate him. This film is a good start.

Think I'm Nuts? I'm In Good Company...

Read The Constitution In Crisis; Final Investigative Report of the House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff. Introduction by one of my congressional homeboys, a proud member of former President Nixon's enemies list. He calls it the "Minority Report" - how appropriate, culturally speaking.

Neo-Con Fasci-Nation

I'm constantly amazed at how different our country is from the one I learned about in school. Everything I was raised to believe about the Good 'Ole USA has been turned on its head.

• I was raised to believe that if you worked hard and obeyed the rules, you would never be homeless or hungry in America.
  
• I was raised to believe that a "pension fund" was a binding contractual obligation created to help a dedicated and loyal employee retire after years of hard work.
  
• I was raised to believe in "overtime" and the 40-hour work week- and remember the courageous working-class Americans who fought and sacrificed to secure those rights for us.
  
• I was raised to believe that taxes were meant to "promote the general welfare" as well as provide for the uncommonly huge defense budget.
  
• I was raised to believe you should pay your bills on time and avoid burying yourself in mountains of debt.
  
• I was raised to believe that the U.S. was good and righteous and promoted equality and fair play both here and abroad.
  
• I was raised to believe that the tyranny of the majority couldn't happen in America because the built-in checks and balances in our constitutional democracy wouldn't allow it.
  
• I was raised to believe in the Bill Of Rights.
  
• I was raised to believe that science was apolitical.
  
• I was raised to believe there were good reasons our founders emphasized the seperation of church and state.
  
• I was raised to believe a "free and unfettered press" was an integral part of keeping a constitutional democracy healthy.
  
• I was raised to belive that our government was created "of the people, by the people and for the people".
  
• I was raised to believe no American was above or beyond the law, not even The President of The United States.
  
• I was raised to believe cheaters could never be winners.
  
  

Thanks to the shameless governance of extremist neo-cons who have been ruining the U.S. for the past six and a half years, I now realize my elementary and naive illusions about America were completely and utterly false.

I hold this truth to be self-evident: that it's every man, woman and child for himself in America - the rules be damned.

Riffing On The Times 7-21-06

As always, the heads are taken directly from NYTimes Online while the sub-heads are entirely made-up.


From Carnage in Lebanon, a Concession - Israel Agrees to Lie to Secretary Of State Condo-lease-a Rice if she agrees get on a plane headed back to the U.S.

A Night of Death and Terror for Lebanese Villagers - Courtesy of Secretary of State Condo-lease-a Rice's Imaginary 48 Hour Cease Fire

U.S. Puts Onus on Employers of Immigrants - Govt. To Business: If you want cheap labor you can abuse with impunity, you'll have to go to the trailer parks and inner cities just like everybody else.

Israel Suspending Lebanon Air Raids After Dozens Die - Just kidding, they're going to keep bombing the shit out of women, children, old folks and those meddlesome UN peacekeepers in hopes of hitting a "terrorist".

A Small Charity Takes the Reins in Fighting a Neglected Disease - Discarded, unprofitable "cure" saved from pharmaceutical trash bin by humans who are actually concerned with the well being of other humans without requiring an obscene profit. Though increasingly rare, they do still exist.

Leftist Plans Sit-Ins to Challenge Mexico Vote - Mexicans show Americans how to behave when your election has been stolen by
right wing extremists with the help of an American company (i.e. ChoicePoint).

**** Learn More About ChoicePoint****


Passing Down the Legacy of Conservatism - Though beer bongs, ass-paddling and hate crimes are favored among young Republicans, mysoginism, racism and jingoism are preferred by elders. All, however, belive in their divine right to loot the U.S. treasury to fund their own private interests.

Cute, Stinky and Beached, Seals Cause a Squabble - Navy elite force looking for Lebanese "beachfront" found sweaty and confused on California shoreline. Leader overheard cursing "that Goddamn Rumsfeld has done it to us again!"