Friday, May 30, 2014

The Clinton-JFK-Obama Nexus

Who hasn't played the game "Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon"? In reality, it should be called a nexus, but that's missing the point entirely and my creative writing teacher once said to never start an article with a digression. Well, sorry, my bad. Damn! My teacher also stated to never apologize in your opening paragraph either.

There's been a disturbing, perhaps even creepy, find amongst photographs of a young Barack Obama. Specifically, one in which he is posing with his fellow teammates on the high school basketball team.


(All photos under Fair Use)

Look closely, who is that young fellow behind Obama's left shoulder? Why it looks to be none other than a young John F. Kennedy!


I know! What the hell? But when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Obama is nothing more than Bill Clinton light, a continuation of disastrous policies both foreign and domestic that has been going on since JFK's assassination. It helps to solidify this wash that Clinton actually met JFK!


Incredible! Fantastico! Phantasmagorical! Although highly unlikely, perhaps Obama's basketball teammate was none other than John F. Kennedy, Jr. Whew! Well, that was a close one, a close one indeed. It is now safe to leave the rabbit hole.

You're welcome!
 

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

It's Not About "Burger Flippers" It's About The Devalued Dollar


I'm sure many of you have seen the memes (or variations thereof) shown below on social media over the past few months. The one on the top is more than a bit disingenuous because it presupposes that first responders only get minimum wage and that they do not complain. There's a similar one comparing "burger flippers" with United States soldiers which is also disingenuous because it ignores the fact that soldiers are grossly under paid and under benefited as well! The bottom meme is closer to what has actually happened - the decline of buying power by the U.S. dollar and the MSM ignoring inflation, the second great depression and the impact that this had on tens of millions of Americans.
 
 
 
 
Many moons ago when I was working a part-time minimum wage job for $3.10 an hour while in college I was able to afford to share a 2 bedroom apartment, had a savings account and didn't need food stamps. Six months later, I was out of college and bumped up the gravy train to $3.50 an hour and more than 30 hours a week. Then I was paying back my student loan and still had the savings account, paid rent, paid for my food, paid for clothes, et al. My point is that the buying power of the dollar has dramatically decreased over the years and inflation (which they used to report on the nightly news by the way) is going through the roof.
 
I noticed that almost no one was bitching and moaning when McDonald's CEO was given a 4+ times raise last year, but raise the minimum wage and howls are made mostly from the right-wing, economists and filthy rich people. So, with minimum wage workers on food stamps, child welfare, housing welfare etc., you'd rather argue that subsidizing these high-profit, low wage corporations is all right for American taxpayers? A $15 an hour wage would cut food stamps rolls and all the rest. It's that simple. This isn't about pimply faced teenagers or retirees, this is about corporate welfare at the expense of working Americans and the fact that the dollar doesn't buy nearly as much as it use to.
 
If you are still fixated on the "burger flipper" in spite of reading this far, consider this: the average fast food "value meal" costs about $7.50. It would take an employee at said fast food establishment one hour's worth of wages to afford that. Even the self-serving, bigoted car magnate Henry Ford understood he had to pay his employees enough of a wage to afford the cars they built.
 

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Multiple Gunmen Yet AGAIN! and AGAIN!

UPDATE INCLUDED

Here we have a mass shooting near the University Of California, Santa Barbara in Isla Vista, on Friday night May 23rd. Once again we have early reports of more than one gunman. However, the Official Version is telling us it was only one gunman. A gunman who was so tortured and lonely he posted videos on You Tube railing about how life was treating him so unfair and here he was a 22 year old virgin. Ack!

The Official Version allows people to argue (in this case) about the pros and cons of the state of mental health facilities in the United States, how evil the NRA is, more gun control, and in a new twist, the apparent rampant misogyny in this country. Which, of course, like previous mass shootings the last two years, allows the early reports of more than one gunman to slip quietly out of the discourse. If it weren't for the tragic loss of lives in these instances, this continued "disappearance" of other gunmen would warrant a collective groan and YAWN.

(The man behind the curtain, reprinted under Fair Use)

Like the shooting at the Aurora Theater, the shooting at the Sikh Temple, or the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school, the shooting in Isla Vista has both eye-witness reports and police scanner reports of more than one gunman. I know! What the hell? I suppose you are suppose to believe that these reports and scanner dialogue are nothing more than mere coincidences and that eye-witness reports are notoriously faulty (unless the eye-witness reports buttress the Official Version). How many times must this happen before a well informed populace rises up and begins asking legitimate, critical questions? The Mainstream Media (MSM) will not be asking these kind of questions because the Official Version has already been set in stone. So, it may be only up to us to demand answers to these critical questions regardless of how unsettling the answers may be.

As a friend of the three roommates this lone nut supposedly stabbed to death said, “If a person was in danger for his life, I think he would try everything to escape. From a door. From a window,” said Zhe Lu, a computer science major who knew the victims.  “It keeps making me wonder if there is a second killer.”

Or we may simply go back to sleep. Oh, yawn.

UPDATE

Wake up! Wake up! Stop yawning! Less than two weeks after the shooting reported above, there has been today, June 5th, a shooting at Seattle Pacific University. Unfortunately, 1 person died and three others were wounded and the gunman was taken into custody - alive. However, just like a tired script, there were numerous reports of two gunmen. In fact, the description by police was fairly specific. Police said the second gunman was, "described as white male, long sleeve blue shirt with vertical stripes, armed with handgun." Then, reports of two gunmen in custody (see photo below) are reported on the local CBS affiliate, KIRO, along with the picture of one of the gunmen being taken to a police car.


However, within 90 minutes of the shooting, all reports of a second gunman, whether seen, in custody or otherwise, had been scrubbed from the original MSM reporting and the police reports as well. Oh, but it's all a coincidence. Eye-witnesses, reporters, hell even the cops can be wrong (uh, every damn time it would appear). So, time to go back sleep...
 

Thursday, May 22, 2014

9/11 Museum Of Rich Crass Elites & Tastelessness

The 9/11 Museum in New York City on "hallowed ground" has opened. Wherever one may fall along the spectrum, from believing in the government's conspiracy theory (which, of course, the museum endorses) to believing there were no planes, no one can deny that this "museum" is nothing more than a feel good for rich, crass elitists and a monument to tastelessness.

(photo by Todd Heisler, New York Times, under Fair Use)

It was bad enough that the powers that be decided to move some 8,000 pieces of remains to a repository in the same building as the new "museum" as opposed to an aboveground tomb like the Unknown Soldier. It was even worse that crass rich elitists (some of whom made a lot of money off of the attacks) attended what amounted to a cocktail party on hallowed ground before the "museum's" official opening. “You enjoy dinner & drinks on top of my brothers grave last night douchebags?” tweeted Robert Shay Jr.’s sister.

(photo by Marcus Santos, The New York Daily News, under Fair Use)

No, the real jaw dropping act of tastelessness is the gift shop. You read that right, on "hallowed ground" there rests a fucking gift shop where people will continue to make money off of the victims. Perhaps the most tasteless gift in this dive is the 9/11 Cheese Plate, complete with little stars where the attacks occurred. I'll wait as you let that sink in.

(photo by Scott Lynch, The Gothamist, under Fair Use)

If anyone is still onboard with idea that your rich overseers and politicians have always had your best interests at heart I hope this "museum" has disabused you of that. Imagine what a visit to the gift shop might be like.

"Hello, and welcome to the 9/11 Museum Gift Shop. Oh, I see you're spying our classy 9/11 Cheese Plate. Perfect for your wine and cheese parties as you discuss the latest best seller. No, no, no, it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Perhaps I could interest you in one of our Mohamed Atta passport replicas? They're only $9.95 each. We also have ashtrays formed out of the steel from the girders. They make excellent conversation starters as well has a repository for your butts. Or, might I interest you in our 9/11 Paperweights? Made from the pulverized remains of your fellow citizens, it retails for only $29.95. Buy two, they make wonderful gifts!"