SFL.. On the Road in Oakland-ish

Woodstock - they did such a great job in the 60's.. Why wouldn't it work just as well today?


Ok.

So I'm actually in San Francisco, across the Bay.

I'm having a lovely visit,and greatly enjoying the local reports of the 22% getting hauled away from their occupation.

Of course they vow to return.

The question is why? What are they accomplishing, besides sleeping and shitting in public parks?

Yes, we keep hearing about their intentions to give voice to the unheard.

They keep talking about how it's a reminder of the 60's movement.

Well, I've been thinking about that, as I wander about in the epicenter of the 60's movement - Haight-Ashbury and so on.. and it begs the question - what did the 60's really create?

I'll tell you what they created:

Edward Michael Liddy (born January 28, 1946) - CEO of AIG from 2008 to 2009 and before that, on the board of Goldman Sachs from 2003 to 2008.

Richard Severin "Dick" Fuld, Jr. (born April 26, 1946) is an American investment banker and business executive best known as the final Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lehman Brothers from 1994 until they went under in 2008.

Yup.

Two former "children of the 60's", both 23 years old when the "Woodstock Generation" was born on Max Yasgur's field.

That's right - both of these sworn enemies of the "occupiers of Wall Street" were children of the so-called "age of Aquarius".

So what the hell happened?

Well.. I'll tell you.

While Timothy Leary and his pals were tuning out on LSD, following up on the same sort of stupidity as Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters driving around in their magic bus - the ground work was laid for greasy weasels like Liddy and Fuld to take control.

And they sure as hell did, and, sadly they still do.

Other 60's children?

Dick Cheney was 28 in 1969.

Karl Rove was 19 in 1969.

And, last, but not least.. their uberfuhrer, George W. Bush, was born in 1946, and was 23 years old when Jimmy Hendrix was lighting his guitar on fire.

Think about THAT for a moment.

And then ask yourself this:

If all these asshole "occupiers" are going to do is sit in a park and make a nuisance of themselves.. If all their supporters like Michael Moore are going to do is bitch and moan, but do little or nothing to pick up a shovel and start doing some heavy lifting..

Who is going to be the Lehman Brothers of 2051?

Who is going to be the power elite in the mid 21st century when the 22% cede control of government today, like they did in 1969?

Time to put on the "big boy pants", and start doing some work to give Government back to everyday people, instead of just shitting in the park like a bunch of ignorant farm animals in Yasgur's field back in '69.

Occupy Where? Why?

Well.

No disrespect to the Vancouver anti-capitalists who motivated the recent Occupy Wall Street Protests, but just a few comments.

Firstly, about the so-called "99%".  A recent Gallop Poll suggests that 63% of the public doesn't even know what "Occupy Wall Street" is even about.  And another 15%, who do know what it's about are opposed to it.

My math says that means that the "99%", really, is more like, the "22%".

Secondly, well, not to nitpick a lovely sort of "sit in", but, what's the plan?

Sure - they're patting themselves on the back over the fact that New York didn't call in the dogs and fire-hose them out.  They're suggesting that they have "changed the dialogue" in Washington.

But to coin a capitalist phrase, "Where's the beef?"

What are they accomplishing, beyond, well, nothing?

Unemployment remains high, the deficit in the U.S. is little more that a subdued cobra ready to strike with the slightest of provocation - and fundamentally, while we can see the 22% are unhappy, well, they don't have a plan.  In the least.

Sure - Adbusters is suggesting what they call a "Robin Hood" tax - 1% on each financial transaction, which they suggest will raise "enough cash to fund every social program and environmental initiative in the world."

Right.

Because the market won't adapt to such a tax.  Because pension funds, 401K's and RRSP's haven't been beaten down enough yet.. let's add a little more salt to the wound.  Every time a fund manager seeks to move an investment to a safer haven, he's going to pay another 1%.  Not the fund manager - the fund holder.  You, me, autoworkers pension holders.. you know, the "99%".

But it's all academic because not only is it stupid, it will never happen - and it ignores the fundamental problem - that their "Tea Party Siblings" see - but the Occupiers don't.  Namely, that the problem isn't between "left" and "right", it's between the connected and the disconnected.  Buy using the vernacular of "us" and "them", of "left" and "right" - they continue the polarization games that allow politicians to get elected without actually having to do anything of real substance.  Just fan the flames of ideological disagreement.

The problem is the system.

The people on the inside, and the rest of us.

The true 99%

Conservatives, Liberals, and everything in-between - people that don't have the money or the lobby to twist the arm of politicians.

The Tea Party recognized this - and put together a new lobby. A voters' lobby - who want very little in particular, other than to stop with the political bartering that excludes the people on the bottom for the benefit of the people on the top.

I might suggest, having had some involvement on a local political level, that the real problem is quite simple.

Politicians' primary duty, sadly, is to themselves.

To get re-elected.

And, they have learned that to get re-elected, they need two things:

a) Votes; and

b) Money (that helps them get votes).

And, so - they respond to these two things - and almost ONLY these two things.

So - if you want to influence your political representative, you need to show that you can:

a) Give them votes, or take away votes, in enough numbers to make a difference in their ability to keep their job; and

b) Give them money, or take away enough money, in enough amounts to make a difference in their ability to keep their job.

And that's a problem, a "sick addiction" if you will, that leaves 99% of us on the outside looking in.  Liberals, Conservatives - regardless - the "real people" if you will - who don't involve themselves in a large lobby group or in a business that can impact an election.

Think about this, for just a moment:

From Opensecrets.org:

Since 1989, the rat-bastards who pretty much started this whole mess, AIG, have split about $9.3 million in donations pretty much equally between Republicans and Democrats.  Except during the Obama election - there they broke the mold and gave 68% of their donations to the Democrats - among the top beneficiaries of their benevolence - Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn) and Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) - who just happen to have chaired committees charged with overseeing the insurance industry.

Of course - why ask for gifts from a company when you can just own part of it - like Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) who owns stock in AIG worth some $2 million.

Get it yet?

No.

How about this - also from Opensecrets.org:

2008 Election Cycle Contributions by the Defence Industry:Total Contributions: $23,716,058 From Individuals: $9,945,166 From PAC's: $13,770,892

Donations to Democrats: $12,169,983 (51%)

Donations to Republicans: $11,514,710 (49% )

Are you getting the picture yet?

If the Tea Party and the Occupiers had a REAL plan - they would marshall effort to dismantle the power of money and lobbyists.  Problem is, however, they won't.

Because no one in the Tea Party is going to pull the rug out from under Haliburton or the NRA, and no one from the Occupiers is going to undermine the National Organization for Women or the NAACP.

And thus, the games will continue.  The snow will come, the protesters will fade away, and nothing *sigh* will change.

Alison Redford - Pulls Me Back for One More Post

So.

Alison Redford is our new Premier in Alberta.

And it only cost the taxpayers $107 million for her to acquire the votes needed to win the leadership.

Teachers are very happy.

Problem is, however, Alison doesn't actually have a cheque book to the Alberta Treasury, and, at least in theory, we live in a democracy.

In theory - her gift of $107 million to Alberta teachers:

a) Would have to be approved by her party; and
b) Would have to be discussed and approved in the legislature.

But - such is the stuff of the PC Party of Alberta.  The arrogance is stunning.  And the stupid thing is, no doubt, she'll get to do what she wishes with our tax dollars, democracy be damned.  And while the public may feel all warm and fuzzy about the fact that more money is going into education in the Province the reality is that two things the PC Party has been doing over the last decade is funding the hell out of education and health care - so the hyperbole of the ATA aside, there was no need for increased funding.  There's already enough money there.

While Gary Mar might still hold the record for signing taxpayer dollar cheques to supporters on a per capita basis with his generosity to his former executive assistant, on a gross dollar basis, this expenditure of $107 million in taxpayer dollars, without a second of debate or discussion with even her own party, I think is to be admired and respected for it's brazen arrogance and lack of appreciation for the tenuous position our economy is actually in.

But, whatever..  I suppose.  If the Alberta public wishes to maintain a government who has lost any sense of fiscal responsibility, and await the coming apocalypse where out of control spending comes to roost on the backs of our children and grandchildren, that's their prerogative.

The good news?

I finally acquired my handgun I had been discussing some time ago in my blog when after 49 years of "gunless bliss", in response to the Liberal and NDP blind support for the gun registry, I acquired my possession and acquisition license and, this past month, actually acquired my first handgun.

My choice?

The Israeli Weapons Industries "Jericho 941" 9mm semi-automatic:

Works like a dream - and, the people I have met at the range are perhaps the most friendly, down-to-earth and responsible people I've ever met.

Thanks, Michael Ignatieff - for my new sport of choice.