It should come as no surprise really that Nuclear Power is making a comeback against a backdrop of Global Warming, Wall Street greed and an oil slick disaster of epic proportions. Indeed, many people have recently been pitching Nuclear as a green energy option. Of course, it’s really more like some crazed zombie returned from Dawn of the Dead. In the late 70’s and early 80’s I was pretty well versed in nuclear power plant economics and environmental concerns. It was a hobby of mine, but I was relieved and quite happy to move onto other things as it appeared to die as a viable option (ironically, as much because of cheap Saudi oil as anything else).
These days, I’m more ambivalent about the technology and its problems, sometimes even willing to grant it a sort of grudging “support”, along the lines sketched out by James Lovelock. In essence, the argument in favor of allowing a nuclear renaissance boils down to: we’re all screwed anyway, so why not? I mean, it’s not like the species (particularly Homo Americanus) has shown great judgment or ecological vision or compassion. We’ve pretty much had an uninterrupted celebration of greed, selfishness and stupidity in high places, at least since the late 70’s.
But then, my own innate optimism (such as it is) takes hold again, and I say Hell no. So, I’ve dusted off a song I wrote back in the 80’s about the nuclear industry, added a new verse, and will be taking it out to play in future weeks. As I mentioned, I was a bit of a geek about Nuclear issues back in the day. Before Three Mile Island, there was a 1975 accident at a power plant at Browns Ferry in Alabama. A fire started by a candle that wound up doing something like $100 million of damage. As Wikipedia puts it: “the March 22, 1975 fire started when a worker using a candle to search for air leaks accidentally set a temporary cable seal on fire. The fire spread through the wall from the temporary seal.”
At the time that I was contemplating writing a song about TMI, I was thumbing through a book of old folk songs and came across the “Brown’s Ferry Blues”. It seemed like a perfect frame for the story I wanted to tell, though, aside from the tag line “Lord, lord I’ve got the Brown’s Ferry Blues,” there wasn’t a whole lot of the song that I could actually re-use. I did re-use half of a verse, which fits nicely with the overall flavor of the work. I revised the song again after Chernobyl, but since that time it has been gathering dust. Anyway, the words follow and I should be posting a recording of it soon. Let me know what you think and if you have verses to add, feel free to contribute.
Brown’s Ferry Blues
Fire in the morning, fire at night
When the reactor goes there won’t be no light
Lord, Lord, I’ve got the Brown’s Ferry blues
Put on you coat, get on down the road
Don’t want to be around when it shoots it’s load
Lord, Lord, I’ve got the Brown’s Ferry blues
Early to bed and early to rise
And your woman goes out with the other guys
Lord, Lord, I’ve got the Brown’s Ferry blues
She doesn’t want your contaminated fingers
After it’s over radiation lingers
Lord, Lord, I’ve got the Brown’s Ferry blues
Nobody died at Three Mile Island
Chernobyl was just a few commies fryin
Lord, Lord, I’ve got the Brown’s Ferry blues
Got a two headed mule and a three headed calf
I go out to the barn when I need a good laugh
Lord, Lord, I’ve got the Brown’s Ferry blues
Deepwater oil bearing down on the coast
As Global Warming slowly turns us all into toast
Lord, Lord, I’ve got the Brown’s Ferry blues
GE Lobbyists wading into the fray
Nuclear Power’s gonna save the day
Lord, Lord, I’ve got the Brown’s Ferry blues
Fire in the morning, fire at night
When the reactor goes there won’t be no light
Lord, Lord, I’ve got the Brown’s Ferry blues
One of these days it’ll be all over
We’ll sleep together in a field of clover
Lord, Lord, I’ve got the Brown’s Ferry blues
(c) 2010. Jim Heald. All Rights Reserved.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Thom Bishop, Chicago Songwriter
I recently searched the internet for Thom Bishop, a Chicago songwriter who was fairly active in the 70's and 80's. I heard him play on numerous occasions at clubs like Somebody Else's Troubles, Orphans, at Chicago Fest. Laura and I also heard him play one night at a little gay bar under the EL at Belmont(?) where I also performed on several occasions. That particular night was one of the coldest nights in Chicago History (something like -26) and I killed my transmission trying to drive that night. We all sat in the bar with our parkas on. Not sure how he managed to perform that night. He and I left Chicago at roughly the same time. He headed to LA, to pursue songwriting for movies and writing screenplays. He'd also written some musical theater pieces in Chicago.
He had pretty much vanished from the face of the earth (at least to non-friends and relatives), although he did release an album in the late 80's and another in the late 90's. Previous searches (not sure that I've tried in recent years) yielded very little, except a credit as the Music Director on a small film called American Reel.
On this most recent search, there was a link to a Wikipedia page for someone named Junior Burke. So I went to wikipedia and the mystery unravelled a bit. Thomas Burke Bishop Jr. had decided sometime in the 90's to become known as Junior Burke. Junior had recently released a CD (of old and new music - quite good, very well produced by Chicagoan Jim Tullio) and had published a novel in 2005 (the novel appears to be out of print, but used copies can be purchased through Amazon). He is also now the chair of the Kerouac Institute for Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, CO. and is working on a second novel. Check him out at www.juniorburke.com .
He had pretty much vanished from the face of the earth (at least to non-friends and relatives), although he did release an album in the late 80's and another in the late 90's. Previous searches (not sure that I've tried in recent years) yielded very little, except a credit as the Music Director on a small film called American Reel.
On this most recent search, there was a link to a Wikipedia page for someone named Junior Burke. So I went to wikipedia and the mystery unravelled a bit. Thomas Burke Bishop Jr. had decided sometime in the 90's to become known as Junior Burke. Junior had recently released a CD (of old and new music - quite good, very well produced by Chicagoan Jim Tullio) and had published a novel in 2005 (the novel appears to be out of print, but used copies can be purchased through Amazon). He is also now the chair of the Kerouac Institute for Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, CO. and is working on a second novel. Check him out at www.juniorburke.com .
Monday, April 19, 2010
Are we all Communists?
I'm trying not to make this a "political" blog, but I do think about politics (more than a little). My brother-in-law sent this diatribe to my wife. It’s floating around the internet on Libertarian and some religious web sites, so it's not something that he thought up. I used to think he was intelligent, but then it gets harder and harder when you get stuff like this. Since Laura told me not to respond, I’m posting it on this blog. Nobody reads this anyway, so what the heck. I can vent a little and feel better. My comments are in bold.
ARE Americans practicing Communism?
Karl Marx describes in his communist manifesto, the ten steps necessary to destroy a free enterprise system and replace it with a system of omnipotent government power, so as to effect a communist socialist state. Those ten steps are known as the Ten Planks of The Communist Manifesto… The following brief presents the original ten planks within the Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx in 1848, along with the American adopted counterpart for each of the planks. From comparison it's clear MOST Americans have by myths, fraud and deception under the color of law by their own politicians in both the Republican and Democratic and parties, been transformed into Communists.
Take that George Bush, Ronald Reagan and Mitch McConnell!!!
Another thing to remember, Karl Marx in creating the Communist Manifesto designed these planks AS A TEST to determine whether a society has become communist or not. If they are all in effect and in force, then the people ARE practicing communists.
Since they are not “all” in effect and “in force” then we’re not.
The 10 PLANKS stated in the Communist Manifesto and some of their American counterparts are...
The American “counterparts” are pretty well stretched beyond any reasonable recognition.
1. Abolition of private property and the application of all rents of land to public purposes. Americans do these with actions such as the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (1868), and various zoning, school & property taxes. Also the Bureau of Land Management (Zoning laws are the first step to government property ownership)
Regulation is not ownership. The constitution originally did not enumerate any “rights” of citizens and constitutions in general are a “social contract”, which enumerates both rights and responsibilities. The Federal Government IS allowed to tax its citizens and regulate interstate commerce. There was no thought by the founders that States would not tax their citizens and regulate commercial activity and property as well as adjudicating disputes.
Quite obviously, private property has not been abolished in this country and “ALL” rents have not been diverted to public purposes. We wouldn’t be talking about the deficit or Wall Street Bonuses if they were. Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Bob Rubin et al would laugh in your face if you made this claim to them.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. Americans know this as misapplication of the 16th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, 1913, The Social Security Act of 1936.; Joint House Resolution 192 of 1933; and various State "income" taxes. We call it "paying your fair share".
So, if we had a 95% Flat Tax you’d be happy with it? The top tax rate was about 90% in 1960. Kennedy cut it to 70%. Reagan cut it to 50% and then to 36%. Clinton raised the top rate to 39.6% and Bush cut it again. So, by historical measures, current progressive income taxes are not that “heavy”. If you look at all taxes (local and federal, including sales and payroll taxes) the US Tax rates are essentially flat and are substantially lower than the rest of the industrialized world. There is no prohibition in the Constitution for States and Local Governments enacting pretty much any tax they want.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance. Americans call it Federal & State estate Tax (1916); or reformed Probate Laws, and limited inheritance via arbitrary inheritance tax statutes.
“ALL” means all. Libertarians might consider the current estate taxes confiscatory, but we have not abolished rights of inheritance by any reasonable measure. The current laws impact less than 2% of the population, and there are legal remedies for most of them to mitigate the damage. Four or Five of the wealthiest Americans on the recent Forbes tally were heirs of Sam Walton. The grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the Rockefellers and Kennedys are also doing pretty well.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. Americans call it government seizures, tax liens, Public "law" 99-570 (1986); Executive order 11490, sections 1205, 2002 which gives private land to the Department of Urban Development; the imprisonment of "terrorists" and those who speak out or write against the "government" (1997 Crime/Terrorist Bill); or the IRS confiscation of property without due process. Asset forfeiture laws are used by DEA, IRS, ATF etc...).
Again, “ALL” means all. People leaving this country voluntarily don’t have their property confiscated. Should “terrorists” receive due process? What constitutes “terrorism”? Most Americans have to say or do quite a bit to antagonize the government into confiscating their property and putting them in jail, unless they are poor and black. Should the DEA NOT raid and shut down crystal meth operations?
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. Americans call it the Federal Reserve which is a privately-owned credit/debt system allowed by the Federal Reserve act of 1913. All local banks are members of the Fed system, and are regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) another privately [SIC public]-owned corporation. The Federal Reserve Banks issue Fiat Paper Money and practice economically destructive fractional reserve banking.
Hamilton, one of the revered founding fathers, believed in Central Banking and established the First Bank of the U.S well before Marx was born. A second bank was also established and was abolished by Jackson. There are certainly problems with our financial system and one might want to rail against either the Fed or the Big Banks. But it could as easily be said that the Banks own the government rather than the reverse. The Fed and the government clearly don’t have an “exclusive” monopoly.
6. Centralization of the means of communications and transportation in the hands of the State. Americans call it the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Transportation (DOT) mandated through the ICC act of 1887, the Commissions Act of 1934, The Interstate Commerce Commission established in 1938, The Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Communications Commission, and Executive orders 11490, 10999, as well as State mandated driver's licenses and Department of Transportation regulations.
The Internet is in the hands of the State? TV? Radio? Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck work for Obama? There is a clear difference between regulations and a framework of law and “centralization of the means of communication and transportation”. We certainly have a problem with corporate concentration of wealth and power and the homogeneity of “corporate” media, but again you’re railing at the wrong target. It’s not the government that controls it.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state, the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. Americans call it corporate capacity, The Desert Entry Act and The Department of Agriculture… Thus read "controlled or subsidized" rather than "owned"… This is easily seen in these as well as the Department of Commerce and Labor, Department of Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Mines, National Park Service, and the IRS control of business through corporate regulations.
Massey Energy is a good example of how the Government does not control Coal mining (and every other private business), despite environmental and safety regulations. The US certainly has a lot of public land, which it manages and leases to the Energy industry, Timber interests, Agricultural companies (grazing rights), mining companies, etc. Whether these activities fairly benefit all of the people is a question that can and should be debated. The same with agricultural subsidies. “The improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan,” is a bad thing?
8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. Americans call it Minimum Wage and slave labor like dealing with our Most Favored Nation trade partner; i.e. Communist China. We see it in practice via the Social Security Administration and The Department of Labor. The National debt and inflation caused by the communal bank has caused the need for a two "income" family. Woman in the workplace since the 1920's, the 19th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, assorted Socialist Unions, affirmative action, the Federal Public Works Program and of course Executive order 11000.
You’re against women working? You’re against women voting? You’re for discrimination against black people? Basically this “plank” means that labor is King in the communist society. This is as far from the current situation in the U.S. as possible. If you read The Manifesto as a “historical” document (ie, “in context”), this makes more sense. Poor people were essentially thrown off the land by the enclosure laws of the late 18th and early 19th century and had nowhere to go but the urban slums and, if they were lucky, factory jobs. Women started working in factories in Europe early in the Industrial Revolution. My great-great grandmother worked in the cotton mills in Manchester. Creating industrial armies for agriculture would have been a way to get people back to the land, back to “fresh” air, give them work and food to eat. In any event, we’re not creating “industrial armies”.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries, gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of population over the country. Americans call it the Planning Reorganization act of 1949 , zoning (Title 17 1910-1990) and Super Corporate Farms, as well as Executive orders 11647, 11731 (ten regions) and Public "law" 89-136. These provide for forced relocations and forced sterilization programs, like in China.
Forced relocations and sterilization? Pretty paranoid shit (and by the way, not advocated by Marx). You realize that this “explanation” is tied in to Christian end-times bullshit about Armageddon and the coming of the Antichrist (orchestrated by FEMA)? To the extent that we are abolishing the distinction between town and country, it is because of growth and sprawl, not the result of “government control”.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production. Americans are being taxed to support what we call 'public' schools, but are actually "government force-tax-funded schools" Even private schools are government regulated. The purpose is to train the young to work for the communal debt system. We also call it the Department of Education, the NEA and Outcome Based "Education” . These are used so that all children can be indoctrinated and inculcated with the government propaganda, like "majority rules", and "pay your fair share". WHERE are the words "fair share" in the Constitution, Bill of Rights or the Internal Revenue Code (Title 26)?? NO WHERE is "fair share" even suggested!! The philosophical concept of "fair share" comes from the Communist maxim, "From each according to their ability, to each according to their need! This concept is pure socialism. ... America was made the greatest society by its private initiative WORK ETHIC ... Teaching ourselves and others how to "fish" to be self sufficient and produce plenty of EXTRA commodities to if so desired could be shared with others who might be "needy"... Americans have always voluntarily been the MOST generous and charitable society on the planet.
So, you’re against public education? You’re for child factory labor? Public schools teach “societal” norms. Corporate-run schools would promote corporate values. Religious schools would promote religious values (and maybe pedophilia as a side benefit). And yes, one prominent function of schools is to “socialize” children (pun intended). In this country, we have public schools, private schools, and religious schools. We allow home schooling, where presumably, children will be indoctrinated by their parents and limited to the views of their parents. Public education has been generally a good thing, but becomes problematic when State Governments (Texas, most recently) try to censor and rewrite the history curriculum, or when Creationists in Kansas try to push Intelligent Design.
“Fair Share” – Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. We’re supposed to be a Christian nation (at least that’s what the so-called Christians keep telling us). “All men are created equal”. Declaration of Independence. Socialist nonsense. Sharing goes back much further than Marx. Loaves and fishes (damned Socialist Jesus!). Think about it for a moment. When do we NOT want to get “our fair share,” our piece of the pie, etc? From the point of view of the individual and our desires, we WANT what’s ours, right? But giving someone else THEIR fair share? Heck no. We’re greedy little bastards down to the core.
Whether or not it is true that “Americans have always voluntarily been the MOST generous and charitable society on the planet,” is somewhat beside the point. To the extent that it’s true, it’s a good thing. But it hardly negates the need for government.
ARE Americans practicing Communism?
Karl Marx describes in his communist manifesto, the ten steps necessary to destroy a free enterprise system and replace it with a system of omnipotent government power, so as to effect a communist socialist state. Those ten steps are known as the Ten Planks of The Communist Manifesto… The following brief presents the original ten planks within the Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx in 1848, along with the American adopted counterpart for each of the planks. From comparison it's clear MOST Americans have by myths, fraud and deception under the color of law by their own politicians in both the Republican and Democratic and parties, been transformed into Communists.
Take that George Bush, Ronald Reagan and Mitch McConnell!!!
Another thing to remember, Karl Marx in creating the Communist Manifesto designed these planks AS A TEST to determine whether a society has become communist or not. If they are all in effect and in force, then the people ARE practicing communists.
Since they are not “all” in effect and “in force” then we’re not.
The 10 PLANKS stated in the Communist Manifesto and some of their American counterparts are...
The American “counterparts” are pretty well stretched beyond any reasonable recognition.
1. Abolition of private property and the application of all rents of land to public purposes. Americans do these with actions such as the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (1868), and various zoning, school & property taxes. Also the Bureau of Land Management (Zoning laws are the first step to government property ownership)
Regulation is not ownership. The constitution originally did not enumerate any “rights” of citizens and constitutions in general are a “social contract”, which enumerates both rights and responsibilities. The Federal Government IS allowed to tax its citizens and regulate interstate commerce. There was no thought by the founders that States would not tax their citizens and regulate commercial activity and property as well as adjudicating disputes.
Quite obviously, private property has not been abolished in this country and “ALL” rents have not been diverted to public purposes. We wouldn’t be talking about the deficit or Wall Street Bonuses if they were. Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Bob Rubin et al would laugh in your face if you made this claim to them.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. Americans know this as misapplication of the 16th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, 1913, The Social Security Act of 1936.; Joint House Resolution 192 of 1933; and various State "income" taxes. We call it "paying your fair share".
So, if we had a 95% Flat Tax you’d be happy with it? The top tax rate was about 90% in 1960. Kennedy cut it to 70%. Reagan cut it to 50% and then to 36%. Clinton raised the top rate to 39.6% and Bush cut it again. So, by historical measures, current progressive income taxes are not that “heavy”. If you look at all taxes (local and federal, including sales and payroll taxes) the US Tax rates are essentially flat and are substantially lower than the rest of the industrialized world. There is no prohibition in the Constitution for States and Local Governments enacting pretty much any tax they want.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance. Americans call it Federal & State estate Tax (1916); or reformed Probate Laws, and limited inheritance via arbitrary inheritance tax statutes.
“ALL” means all. Libertarians might consider the current estate taxes confiscatory, but we have not abolished rights of inheritance by any reasonable measure. The current laws impact less than 2% of the population, and there are legal remedies for most of them to mitigate the damage. Four or Five of the wealthiest Americans on the recent Forbes tally were heirs of Sam Walton. The grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the Rockefellers and Kennedys are also doing pretty well.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. Americans call it government seizures, tax liens, Public "law" 99-570 (1986); Executive order 11490, sections 1205, 2002 which gives private land to the Department of Urban Development; the imprisonment of "terrorists" and those who speak out or write against the "government" (1997 Crime/Terrorist Bill); or the IRS confiscation of property without due process. Asset forfeiture laws are used by DEA, IRS, ATF etc...).
Again, “ALL” means all. People leaving this country voluntarily don’t have their property confiscated. Should “terrorists” receive due process? What constitutes “terrorism”? Most Americans have to say or do quite a bit to antagonize the government into confiscating their property and putting them in jail, unless they are poor and black. Should the DEA NOT raid and shut down crystal meth operations?
The government does have a long, sordid history of putting down people's rebellions and censoring thought and speech from the Whiskey Rebellion and the Alien and Sedition Acts of the 1790's, union busting in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, during and after World War I (anti-immigrant, anti-socialist), the McCarthy era, FBI and other agency surveillance and infiltration of the Anti-War and Civil Rights Movements in the 1960's. Are militias being unfairly targeted today? Perhaps, but they have a lot more guns than many other protesters in the past and have taken explicitly violent, almost apocalyptic positions towards the government and society.
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. Americans call it the Federal Reserve which is a privately-owned credit/debt system allowed by the Federal Reserve act of 1913. All local banks are members of the Fed system, and are regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) another privately [SIC public]-owned corporation. The Federal Reserve Banks issue Fiat Paper Money and practice economically destructive fractional reserve banking.
Hamilton, one of the revered founding fathers, believed in Central Banking and established the First Bank of the U.S well before Marx was born. A second bank was also established and was abolished by Jackson. There are certainly problems with our financial system and one might want to rail against either the Fed or the Big Banks. But it could as easily be said that the Banks own the government rather than the reverse. The Fed and the government clearly don’t have an “exclusive” monopoly.
6. Centralization of the means of communications and transportation in the hands of the State. Americans call it the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Transportation (DOT) mandated through the ICC act of 1887, the Commissions Act of 1934, The Interstate Commerce Commission established in 1938, The Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Communications Commission, and Executive orders 11490, 10999, as well as State mandated driver's licenses and Department of Transportation regulations.
The Internet is in the hands of the State? TV? Radio? Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck work for Obama? There is a clear difference between regulations and a framework of law and “centralization of the means of communication and transportation”. We certainly have a problem with corporate concentration of wealth and power and the homogeneity of “corporate” media, but again you’re railing at the wrong target. It’s not the government that controls it.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state, the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. Americans call it corporate capacity, The Desert Entry Act and The Department of Agriculture… Thus read "controlled or subsidized" rather than "owned"… This is easily seen in these as well as the Department of Commerce and Labor, Department of Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Mines, National Park Service, and the IRS control of business through corporate regulations.
Massey Energy is a good example of how the Government does not control Coal mining (and every other private business), despite environmental and safety regulations. The US certainly has a lot of public land, which it manages and leases to the Energy industry, Timber interests, Agricultural companies (grazing rights), mining companies, etc. Whether these activities fairly benefit all of the people is a question that can and should be debated. The same with agricultural subsidies. “The improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan,” is a bad thing?
8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. Americans call it Minimum Wage and slave labor like dealing with our Most Favored Nation trade partner; i.e. Communist China. We see it in practice via the Social Security Administration and The Department of Labor. The National debt and inflation caused by the communal bank has caused the need for a two "income" family. Woman in the workplace since the 1920's, the 19th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, assorted Socialist Unions, affirmative action, the Federal Public Works Program and of course Executive order 11000.
You’re against women working? You’re against women voting? You’re for discrimination against black people? Basically this “plank” means that labor is King in the communist society. This is as far from the current situation in the U.S. as possible. If you read The Manifesto as a “historical” document (ie, “in context”), this makes more sense. Poor people were essentially thrown off the land by the enclosure laws of the late 18th and early 19th century and had nowhere to go but the urban slums and, if they were lucky, factory jobs. Women started working in factories in Europe early in the Industrial Revolution. My great-great grandmother worked in the cotton mills in Manchester. Creating industrial armies for agriculture would have been a way to get people back to the land, back to “fresh” air, give them work and food to eat. In any event, we’re not creating “industrial armies”.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries, gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of population over the country. Americans call it the Planning Reorganization act of 1949 , zoning (Title 17 1910-1990) and Super Corporate Farms, as well as Executive orders 11647, 11731 (ten regions) and Public "law" 89-136. These provide for forced relocations and forced sterilization programs, like in China.
Forced relocations and sterilization? Pretty paranoid shit (and by the way, not advocated by Marx). You realize that this “explanation” is tied in to Christian end-times bullshit about Armageddon and the coming of the Antichrist (orchestrated by FEMA)? To the extent that we are abolishing the distinction between town and country, it is because of growth and sprawl, not the result of “government control”.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production. Americans are being taxed to support what we call 'public' schools, but are actually "government force-tax-funded schools" Even private schools are government regulated. The purpose is to train the young to work for the communal debt system. We also call it the Department of Education, the NEA and Outcome Based "Education” . These are used so that all children can be indoctrinated and inculcated with the government propaganda, like "majority rules", and "pay your fair share". WHERE are the words "fair share" in the Constitution, Bill of Rights or the Internal Revenue Code (Title 26)?? NO WHERE is "fair share" even suggested!! The philosophical concept of "fair share" comes from the Communist maxim, "From each according to their ability, to each according to their need! This concept is pure socialism. ... America was made the greatest society by its private initiative WORK ETHIC ... Teaching ourselves and others how to "fish" to be self sufficient and produce plenty of EXTRA commodities to if so desired could be shared with others who might be "needy"... Americans have always voluntarily been the MOST generous and charitable society on the planet.
So, you’re against public education? You’re for child factory labor? Public schools teach “societal” norms. Corporate-run schools would promote corporate values. Religious schools would promote religious values (and maybe pedophilia as a side benefit). And yes, one prominent function of schools is to “socialize” children (pun intended). In this country, we have public schools, private schools, and religious schools. We allow home schooling, where presumably, children will be indoctrinated by their parents and limited to the views of their parents. Public education has been generally a good thing, but becomes problematic when State Governments (Texas, most recently) try to censor and rewrite the history curriculum, or when Creationists in Kansas try to push Intelligent Design.
“Fair Share” – Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. We’re supposed to be a Christian nation (at least that’s what the so-called Christians keep telling us). “All men are created equal”. Declaration of Independence. Socialist nonsense. Sharing goes back much further than Marx. Loaves and fishes (damned Socialist Jesus!). Think about it for a moment. When do we NOT want to get “our fair share,” our piece of the pie, etc? From the point of view of the individual and our desires, we WANT what’s ours, right? But giving someone else THEIR fair share? Heck no. We’re greedy little bastards down to the core.
Whether or not it is true that “Americans have always voluntarily been the MOST generous and charitable society on the planet,” is somewhat beside the point. To the extent that it’s true, it’s a good thing. But it hardly negates the need for government.
Great House Concert
I have to thank everyone for making the House Concert a great event. We had about 25 people come out to listen to the music. Good food, good conversation, good beer, good wine, good food. My only disappointment was that I taped the event but had the mike set too hot, so the resulting recordings were all distorted. Too bad. However, there's some interesting chatter between songs that I'll be posting to my web site when I have a chance to go through it all and clean it up.
Monday, March 22, 2010
House Concert, April 10th
I'll be doing a House Concert in Alexandria on Saturday, April 10th. Send an email to jimheald@comcast.net if you are interested in joining the party. Beer, Wine, and snacks will be served.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Crazy Heart
Finally got around to seeing Crazy Heart this past weekend. Great acting by Jeff Bridges and Maggie G, good story, and good music by T-Bone and Stephen Bruton. Looking over some viewer reviews the other day and it seems like most people liked the movie, but a small percentage really hated it. There were some common threads aside from the few that thought it was boring and slow moving, cliche ridden, or depressing and just a tale about a drunk. A couple of folks complained about Hollywood's tendency to hook up an old guy with a "27 year old hottie" and how it would have been more believable if she had been 35. While I agree with the overall sentiment, Maggie G was 32 when they shot the movie, so the writer was a little off base. Indeed, if they looked around there are a lot of hot 35 year olds (and not just in Hollywood). Heck, there are a fair number of hot 40 year olds. So, if you want to argue that it would be more believable if Jeff had hooked up with a 40 something reporter, then I'd certainly agree with you. But, it's still Hollywood, and more than likely it would be a "hot" 40-something, because 1) she'd have to have something to set her apart from the one-night stand fans, and 2) the audience wants some eye-candy too. Speaking as a 57-year old, I might argue as well that Maggie projected more soul and world-weariness than HOTness. Perhaps she needed a father-figure. Perhaps she saw something "real" in Bad Blake. And who's to underestimate the charm of the worldly performer? Someone older and wiser might not have been taken in by such a character.
Another line of dissent on the movie came from folks who thought that Robert Duvall was under-utilized and a few who thought that Tender Mercies was a much better movie on the same subject (including one person who suggested that the makers of Crazy Heart didn't know anything about the music industry). I don't remember Tender Mercies well enough to comment, but Bob had a good role in Crazy Heart and I can't say that I felt a need for more of him. As for lack of knowledge of the music business, that's a real laugh. It would be hard to find a duo with more knowledge of the music world than T-Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton, especially the working musician's world. T-Bone played with Bob Dylan during the Rolling Thunder Review, has had an interesting solo career, has been a prolific producer and has done a number of well-regarded soundtracks. Stephen was Kris Kristofferson's lead guitarist in the 70's and 80's, before settling in Austin and working as a producer (Jimmy Dale Gilmore among many), solo artist, session musician, and member of the Resentments before his untimely death last year. Supposedly, when Kris K saw a rough cut of the movie last year, he had a hard time watching it because it came so close to his own life and the lives of his friends (Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash).
Playing a drunk, addict or a crazy person is supposedly a good career move for an actor and it has certainly worked in recent years for Nicholas Cage and now Jeff Bridges, among others. Interesting that it's not something that audiences or producers are willing to try very often for a leading lady (though Ann Hathaway pulled it off, in a different way in Rachel Getting Married). It's hard to imagine too many folks willing to look as bad and take it as far as Bridges does here. And as a result some folks find it repulsive, or boring, or depressing.
Thankfully, the filmmakers didn't linger too long on the rehab stint, and also didn't have Bad relapse after Maggie rejects him. And while Bad's fortunes turn positive after rehab, the seeds were sown during the depths of his condition. He makes the deal with Tommy and writes the great song while he is still drinking hard and before Maggie walks out on him.
Another line of dissent on the movie came from folks who thought that Robert Duvall was under-utilized and a few who thought that Tender Mercies was a much better movie on the same subject (including one person who suggested that the makers of Crazy Heart didn't know anything about the music industry). I don't remember Tender Mercies well enough to comment, but Bob had a good role in Crazy Heart and I can't say that I felt a need for more of him. As for lack of knowledge of the music business, that's a real laugh. It would be hard to find a duo with more knowledge of the music world than T-Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton, especially the working musician's world. T-Bone played with Bob Dylan during the Rolling Thunder Review, has had an interesting solo career, has been a prolific producer and has done a number of well-regarded soundtracks. Stephen was Kris Kristofferson's lead guitarist in the 70's and 80's, before settling in Austin and working as a producer (Jimmy Dale Gilmore among many), solo artist, session musician, and member of the Resentments before his untimely death last year. Supposedly, when Kris K saw a rough cut of the movie last year, he had a hard time watching it because it came so close to his own life and the lives of his friends (Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash).
Playing a drunk, addict or a crazy person is supposedly a good career move for an actor and it has certainly worked in recent years for Nicholas Cage and now Jeff Bridges, among others. Interesting that it's not something that audiences or producers are willing to try very often for a leading lady (though Ann Hathaway pulled it off, in a different way in Rachel Getting Married). It's hard to imagine too many folks willing to look as bad and take it as far as Bridges does here. And as a result some folks find it repulsive, or boring, or depressing.
Thankfully, the filmmakers didn't linger too long on the rehab stint, and also didn't have Bad relapse after Maggie rejects him. And while Bad's fortunes turn positive after rehab, the seeds were sown during the depths of his condition. He makes the deal with Tommy and writes the great song while he is still drinking hard and before Maggie walks out on him.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Gosh, where has the time gone
OK, it's been more than a month. I'm sure you've all (lol) missed me terribly. Anyway, the gig at Buzz was cancelled due to the blizzard (part 1). There was more winter mayhem (blizzard part 2). Then Laura and I went to Mexico to get away from the last of the mayhem.
Needless to say, my head has not been "in the game". New stuff is coming up. There's a house concert in 2 weeks on Saturday, March 27th at 8 pm (email me for directions if you are interested in joining us - jimheald@comcast.net). Then I have some showcase appearances in April, May and June.
Take care. I'll be writing more later.
Needless to say, my head has not been "in the game". New stuff is coming up. There's a house concert in 2 weeks on Saturday, March 27th at 8 pm (email me for directions if you are interested in joining us - jimheald@comcast.net). Then I have some showcase appearances in April, May and June.
Take care. I'll be writing more later.
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