Socialism And Capitalism

Image found at PAULITICS via reddit.com

Rogue Columnist Jon Talton has a post up regarding a debate he participated in, at which he was cornered into some uncharacteristic apologia for the merits of capitalism. I don't have much to comment on here - Jon is an honest thinker of some weight and he deftly maps the landscape and so you really should go read it for yourself.

I was going to leave a comment to the effect that socialism & capitalism are two sides of the same coin, but I decided that it was an hoary observation to make and only marginally on topic. So I skittered over here to my territory to make the point.

My sights are on "production," which obsesses both the capitalist and the socialist. Socialists, to me, are humane folks who have bought the frame of the greedheads (the capitalists - to me, again.)

It is as to point to the "wonders" of the pyramids - the folliest of human folly - realize that they are a monument to slavery, and then go into elaborate intellectual yoga on how to build them more humanely.

No - they are folly, narcissism, wastes of the oxygen breathed and the heartbeats beat of the laborers who labored and the kings who decreed. Just because they are big and they last a really, really long time seems to just gob-smack us out of perspective.

Such it is with production. When one looks at human need, true human need... just what is served by production?


Update: On an entirely different subject, Arthur Silbur makes my point (entitled "Odds, and One Regrettable Usual End" - I can't seem to get a direct link on this infernal dial-up). His (entirely correct) point is concerned with the tribalism of the left/right, and I would submit that framing is a step-maiden of this problem. Specifically, that either "side" ignores the elephant-in-the-room in their endless debating.

Media Spin (And Me, Again).

Part 1

I really should start another blog if I'm going to post about me - except that I can't seem to keep up with just one. So scratch that idea for now.

As I note on YouTube.com, where these are posted, this is a great example of media misinformation. They had a story (overqualified professionals forced to flip burgers), and a guy who happened to be a programmer for a few decades and is, in fact, flipping burgers late in life. While I explained that I wasn't the "hard-luck case" that they were looking for, all I got were blank stares and friendly smiles as they filmed/interviewed me. (For the record: I voluntarily "dropped out" of the corporate scene a few years ago, before the economic meltdown.)

When they were finished with the editing - voila! - they had an "overqualified professional forced to flip burgers." (Though I did get to say "greedheads" on the tee vee. Hee.) This is not the most egregious example, of course - the story does exist out there, many times over I'm sure. But it is, at the least, journalistic laziness to just use yours truly as a stand-in for that.

I am Joe The Plumber.

(And I really am loving the shit out of flipping the burgers.)

Part 2

Portland

Photo courtesy The Overland Agency

As a rule, I have not used this forum for personal blogging - and I plan on keeping it that way - but I am overwhelmed with guilt for not posting much lately. This has been for various reasons, not the least of them being my recent relocation from Phoenix to Portland. And me being stuck with dial-up for the time being.

This shot looks towards the Bagdad Theatre & Pub in the very, very cool Hawthorne SE district of my new adopted city. This is my neighborhood - hang a left at the light up ahead and my digs are less than 2 blocks down.

With a fond farewell to Phoenix, I am very happy to be here.

Mike's Juke Joint

Version 4.2 of Mike's Juke Joint is now available.

A LOT of new features have been added. Check the release notes.

Single Payer, Baby...

Susie Madrak, at Crooks & Liars (story from here, emphases Madrak's):

[...]

I walked out of the clinic with a diagnosis and treatment within twenty-five minutes of entering, without paying a dime. There was no wait, no paperwork, and no questions about my ability to pay, my nationality, or whether, as a foreigner, I was entitled to free comprehensive health care. There was no monetary value connected with my physical well-being; the care I received was not contingent upon my ability to pay. I was treated with dignity, respect, and compassion, my illness was cured and I was able to continue with my journey in Venezuela.

[...]

Ashamed yet?

Lindsey Graham Goes All Ouroboros On Truth & Power

Nicole at C&L posted this clip of the ever-lame Senator Graham lisping about Obama's "timidity." (Because the President has demurred from stomping all over the delicate situation unfolding in Iran.)

What caused me to laugh out loud, though, was his demand that Obama speak "truth to power." Multiple times.

Lindsey Graham insists that the President of the United States, the very Locus of Empire, speak "truth to power."

(Insert deadpan stare here.)

Obama Gets Colbert'd?

Heather at Crooks & Liars' Video Cafe posts a roast at the Radio & TV Correspondents' Dinner, served by the inimitable John Hodgman. (I apologize for writing "inimitable.")

My politically over-stimulated brain substituted "progressive" every time Hodgman said "nerd." And, I have to say, after the concluding comments (which were more sentimental than comedic), our preternaturally cool President seemed to becoming aware of a knot swelling up the backside of his head...

...but maybe that's just me.