top of the heap to third world status in one generation

[moose eater]

For my moments of sentimentality and regrets rewarmed, finished with a side order of smiles and sometimes tears, it's up there with 'This Old Porch' (sense of loss of time that can't compare), 'God Will, (But I Won't)' and some others. He connects with the part of the human spirit that Johnny Prine does, which is often difficult for many to put into music or (let alone) words.

That angle of view that incorporates a subtle smile of acceptance, the Cosmic Joke, and loss, sadness, fulfillment and happiness all at once.

Gifts, all of them, and those like them.

 

[Gry]

You may not vote on any more threads today.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to moose eater again.

 

[buzzmobile]

"it don't cost very much and it lasts a long while" You're hitting on common ground, moose eater

Leo Kottke is another voice that will cut deeply.
Louise

 

[moose eater]

"it don't cost very much and it lasts a long while" You're hitting on common ground, moose eater

Leo Kottke is another voice that will cut deeply.
Louise

LK, 'Goin From the Cradle to the Grave' from the Greenhouse Lp. Favorite for many years.

And yes, 'Louise' was classic. Gave soul to beings many never see as human. "They say that Louise was not half bad. it was written on the ...."

Johnny Prine and 'Angel from Montgomery', 'Hello in There,' 'The Six O'clock News', 'Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Any More,' 'Down by the Side of the Road', 'Fish & Whistle' 'That's the Way that the World Goes 'Round,' and tens of other Prine tunes that carried me from the farm in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, to the rest of the Country, and parts of the world.

Milked goats, fed chickens, hogs and ducks, collected eggs, dropped acid, and twisted doobies to those tunes many times.

Saw him live many times. Never met a bad or mean soul at one of his shows.

Was teetering on self-destruction when I bought a ticket to see him in Sand Point, Idaho in the later 80s, got stoned for the first time in over a year with a drunk logger, who'd joined me while I was sitting on a bus bench out in front of the Panida Theatre on 1st Ave(!!!). We ended up passing a doobie he'd pulled out of his wool hat, with folks walking past us; neither one of us cared. Life had come to that point of 'screw it..'

One of the Cowboy Junkies' accompanists joined him on stage that night. At some point they did 'Angel From Montgomery' (an anthem for me, of sorts). I don't know if anyone around me was standing, but I was. I'll leave it at that.

Humanity's suffering and successes, with a twinkling humor tossed in, coming from a peculiar fellow with a guitar, and a lot of stories shared.

 

[St. Phatty]

"it don't cost very much and it lasts a long while" You're hitting on common ground, moose eater

Leo Kottke is another voice that will cut deeply.
Louise

Yes, saw him live once in Portland, Awesome.

I guess this thread is more about the decline of the USA (from the title) but this morning's news headlines sure made a point.

Reduced rain in the Amazon (related to fires), More drought in areas of Australia, so the Aussie farmers are being offered loans (as if they need more debt ?!)

If we lose the Amazon the last major forests will be Siberia, Alaska, and Canada, and I guess the US. And parts of Africa.

Not sure they will absorb all the CO2 the Amazon used to absorb.

 

[Gry]

Recall when credit cards were a rarity and personal debit was all but unheard of.
Tragic to see the payday lenders along with the fast food joints.

 

[Gry]

Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker (Audio)

[youtubeif]v0nmHymgM7Y[/youtubeif]

 

[moose eater]

Cohen's got some 'darker' views of us, but I suspect we've earned our rep.

'Everybody Knows' is the cynical realist's view. Someone in the elderly asylum thread mentioned that inside every cynic is a disappointed idealist, or something like tat. Rings true for me.

Or, from the Jungian perspective, knowing we're capable of so much better, but end up either perpetuating or settling for so much less. The Yin & Yang of our double-edged selves.

Hope you're well this evening, Gry.

 

[Gry]

How Washington keeps America sick and fat

Food is closely linked to health, yet federal nutrition research is underfunded, even as the costs of diet-related diseases are skyrocketing. Does Washington hold the key to solving the obesity crisis?
https://www.politico.com/news/agend...w-what-to-eat-060299?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[moose eater]

You may not vote on any more threads today

And they're a bit shy of doing in-depth research re. the causes of firearms violence, which I suspect might include findings re. both poverty, and poor modeling, living in a Country wherein many are told to be civil and peaceful by people who tend to resolve International and other conflicts while strapped or squeezing triggers... and have been doing so since the Country's inception.

Similar to the hypocrisy re. "Feed the Pig" and being instructed to be frugal/wise and save money by a Government that's tens of trillions of dollars in debt.

 

[Gry]

Who can afford to eat sustainably?

Green diet guidelines may be too expensive for one-fifth of the world's population.

https://www.inverse.com/article/60766-sustainable-diet-not-affordable?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Gypsy Nirvana]

Yeah - what about 'War Bonds?' - first the 'leaders' get themselves into a war that they will never die in - and most probably will profit from - then they ask the people that are dying and slaving away for it - to pay for it! - OUTRAGEOUS!

You may not vote on any more threads today

And they're a bit shy of doing in-depth research re. the causes of firearms violence, which I suspect might include findings re. both poverty, and poor modeling, living in a Country wherein many are told to be civil and peaceful by people who tend to resolve International and other conflicts while strapped or squeezing triggers... and have been doing so since the Country's inception.

Similar to the hypocrisy re. "Feed the Pig" and being instructed to be frugal/wise and save money by a Government that's tens of trillions of dollars in debt.

 

[moose eater]

I went digging through a trove of archived video from Occupy Wall St. earlier today. I feel very fortunate, and very sad, at the same time, to have found it.

Whether acknowledged or not, our brothers and sisters of all ages were there.

People from late teens to their late 60s faced batons, pepper spray, and tear gas.

My initial searches confirmed that much of the video I knew of had been 'cleansed' from the internet, at least from where it had been 8 years ago.

When both mainstream right-leaning media and mainstream left-leaning media smeared and lied daily about the committed persons there, I knew we had found the pulse of what some describe as the 'Deep State.' We had found what pushes the buttons that result in the maintenance of mediocrity for the loss of the American Dream.

There's enough in this archive that I could spend the next long while viewing things that bring up a sense of loss and the beauty of those who gave what they did. I found myself numb again, just as it numbed me 8 years ago.

These are some of the people who resisted the Deep State's foot-soldiers, while many chose to listen to, or watch mainstream corporate media lying day after day about what was happening.

Film Project: "I Will Not Move"

https://archive.org/details/youtube-ows-IAMNOTMOVINGShortFilmOccupyWallStreetavi-c0MAWJlZPp0

Marine lectures NYPD about unarmed civilians

https://archive.org/details/youtube-ows-USMarinePWNS30RIOTPOLICEONWALLSTREETNYCE-VHjJeo84XHI

Voices of Veterans at OWS

https://archive.org/details/youtube-ows-VoicesofVeteransatOccupyWallStreet-EQJUY2SorIE

George Carlin (RIP)

https://archive.org/details/youtube-ows-GeorgeCarlinYouareaslavetothebankersandw-_P2FXWP13Tg

-----------------------------------------

Link to the entire archive found:

https://archive.org/details/ows-youtube

 

[Gry]

We have made a tradition out of suppressing our finest voices,
while elevating jackasses, as our media lies to us about each.

 

[moose eater]

The MSM, from all angles, nearly unanimously declared there was no message, no goal, no comprehensive understanding of the problems being addressed.. And the would-be patriots of all sorts, sitting in their living rooms, seemingly often void of any understanding that these people were standing up for THEM, bought into it, parroted it, and held it up as reality, when all such claims from the audience and media really were, was a re-enactment of 'Animal Farm', 'Lord of the Flies' & similar.

There were many persons in Oakland, Manhattan, D.C., and elsewhere, who worked 1 to 3 jobs, and showed up at the Occupations when they could each day. Some of them pretty amazing persons. Some of whom I quietly loved, sincerely. Life took on greater meaning.

We had former stock traders and insiders working in the Atrium off Broad St. who were parts of the working groups, sending messages to sympathetic persons in Congress re. closing loop-holes in existing or pending regulatory bank legislation.

One young man in a suit would come to Liberty Sq./Zucchotti Park after his shift, and hold a sign at the corner. More than once I watched him taunted by the odd passer-by with "Get a job." His reply was, "I have a job, but I found an Occupation!!"

Yes, this, the linked video below, was a crafted response to the claims above. Do these folks sound like they're inarticulate commies afraid to work a job?

https://archive.org/details/youtube-ows-OccupyWallStreet-ZpttXetMX78

Then this:

https://archive.org/details/youtube-ows-OccupyWallStreetSings-4fuNHYJDh-8

Yes, they sang the 'Star-Spangled Banner' to the cops, some of whom had already, and would later, as well, mace and beat them, then arrest them, charging some of the protestors with felony assault for reacting to being beaten. Like the young woman who was grabbed so hard, from behind, by her breast, that the purple bruises lasted a LONG time. She elbowed the 'grabber' without looking, and went down for a felony..

 

[St. Phatty]

We have made a tradition out of suppressing our finest voices,
while elevating jackasses, as our media lies to us about each.

And one of the best is about to die.

The supposed home-base of "Progressivism", San Francisco, is curiously mute about Mr. Assange.

Pelosi hasn't said ONE WORD.

 

[dramamine]

And one of the best is about to die.

The supposed home-base of "Progressivism", San Francisco, is curiously mute about Mr. Assange.

Pelosi hasn't said ONE WORD.

Thanks for posting this. He will become a martyr, but the anti-free press precedent will have been set by then. It's chilling and surreal to see how many "liberals" can't be bothered to stand up for someone who always brought the truth.

 

[moose eater]

And one of the best is about to die.

The supposed home-base of "Progressivism", San Francisco, is curiously mute about Mr. Assange.

Pelosi hasn't said ONE WORD.

Rampant, narrowed-partisan, political divides, fueled by twisted presentation in the MSM & lackeys, casts anyone who outs either sides' secrets, as villainous...

I suspect if Christ returned in the flesh today, the MSM and both mainstream parties would hang Him again on a cross. Or place him in Gitmo for his birth place &/or residency.

Got to be wearin' THICK protection when you poke hornets' nests these days.

As much as many bitch about the state of affairs, they're far more willing to persecute anyone who effectively rocks the boat. Heavy reliance on the known predictability or faux comfort of status quo, even when it's permeated with disease.

My purpose for referencing 'Animal Farm' above.

 

[Gry]

“Hong Kong in Crosshairs of Global Power Struggle” by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers; Consortium News; 8/19/2019.

Hong Kong is one of the most extreme examples of big finance, neoliberal capitalism in the world. As a result, many people in Hong Kong are suffering from great economic insecurity in a city with 93 billionaires, second-most of any city.
Hong Kong is suffering the effects of being colonized by Britain for more than 150 years following the Opium Wars. The British put in place a capitalist economic system and Hong Kong has had no history of self-rule. When Britain left, it negotiated an agreement that prevents China from changing Hong Kong’s political and economic systems for 50 years by making Hong Kong a Special Administrative Region (SAR).
China cannot solve the suffering of the people of Hong Kong. This “One Country, Two Systems” approach means the extreme capitalism of Hong Kong exists alongside, but separate from, China’s socialized system. Hong Kong has an unusual political system. For example, half the seats in the legislature are required to represent business interests meaning corporate interests vote on legislation.
Hong Kong is a center for big finance and also a center of financial crimes. Between 2013 and 2017, the number of suspicious transactions reported to law enforcement agencies rocketed from 32,907 to 92,115. There has been a small number of prosecutions, which dropped from a high of 167 in 2014 to 103 in 2017. Convictions dropped to only one person sentenced to more than six years behind bars in 2017.
The problem is neither the extradition bill that was used to ignite protests nor China, the problems are Hong Kong’s economy and governance.
The Extradition Bill
The stated cause of the recent protests is an extradition bill proposed because there is no legal way to prevent criminals from escaping charges when they flee to Hong Kong. The bill was proposed by the Hong Kong government in February 2019 to establish a mechanism to transfer fugitives in Hong Kong to Taiwan, Macau or Mainland China.
Extradition laws are a legal norm between countries and within countries (e.g. between states), and since Hong Kong is part of China, it is pretty basic. In fact, in 1998, a pro-democracy legislator, Martin Lee, proposed a law similar to the one he now opposes to ensure a person is prosecuted and tried at the place of the offense.
The push for the bill came in 2018 when a Hong Kong resident Chan Tong-kai allegedly killed his pregnant girlfriend, Poon Hiu-wing, in Taiwan, then returned to Hong Kong. Chan admitted he killed Poon to Hong Kong police, but the police were unable to charge him for murder or extradite him to Taiwan because no agreement was in place.
The proposed law covered 46 types of crimes that are recognized as serious offenses across the globe. These include murder, rape, and sexual offenses, assaults, kidnapping, immigration violations, and drug offenses as well as property offenses like robbery, burglary and arson and other traditional criminal offenses. It also included business and financial crimes.
Months before the street protests, the business community expressed opposition to the law. Hong Kong’s two pro-business parties urged the government to exempt white-collar crimes from the list of offenses covered by any future extradition agreement. There was escalating pressure from the city’s business heavyweights. The American Chamber of Commerce, AmCham, a 50-year-old organization that represents over 1,200 U.S. companies doing business in Hong Kong, opposed the proposal.
AmCham said it would damage the city’s reputation: “Any change in extradition arrangements that substantially expands the possibility of arrest and rendition … of international business executives residing in or transiting through Hong Kong as a result of allegations of economic crime made by the mainland government … would undermine perceptions of Hong Kong as a safe and secure haven for international business operations.”
Kurt Tong, the top U.S. diplomat in Hong Kong, said in March that the proposal could complicate relations between Washington and Hong Kong. Indeed, the Center for International Private Enterprise, an arm of the National Endowment for Democracy, said the proposed law would undermine economic freedom, cause capital flight and threaten Hong Kong’s status as a hub for global commerce. They pointed to a bipartisan letter signed by eight members of Congress, including Senators Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, and Steve Daines and Members of the House of Representatives, Jim McGovern, Ben McAdams, Chris Smith, Tom Suozzi, and Brian Mast opposing the bill.
Proponents of the bill responded by exempting nine of the economic crimes and made extradition only for crimes punishable by at least seven years in prison. These changes did not satisfy big business advocates.
The Mass Protests and U.S. Role
From this attention to the law, opposition grew with the formation of a coalition to organize protests. As Alexander Rubinstein reports, “the coalition cited by Hong Kong media, including the South China Morning Post and the Hong Kong Free Press, as organizers of the anti-extradition law demonstrations is called the Civil Human Rights Front. That organization’s website lists the NED-funded HKHRM [Human Rights Monitor], Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, the Hong Kong Journalists Association, the Civic Party, the Labour Party, and the Democratic Party as members of the coalition.” HKHRM alone received more than $1.9 million in funds from the NED between 1995 and 2013. Major protests began in June.
Building the anti-China movement in Hong Kong has been a long-term, NED project since 1996. In 2012, NED invested $460,000 through its National Democratic Institute, to build the anti-China movement (aka pro-democracy movement), particularly among university students. Two years later, the mass protests of Occupy Central occurred. In a 2016 Open Letter to Kurt Tong, these NED grants and others were pointed out and Tong was asked if the U.S. was funding a Hong Kong independence movement.
During the current protests, organizers were photographed meeting with Julie Eadeh, the political unit chief of U.S. Consulate General, in a Hong Kong hotel. They also met with China Hawks in Washington, D.C., including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Advisor John Bolton, Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Larry Diamond, a co-editor of the NED’s publication and a co-chair of research, has been openly encouraging the protesters. He delivered a video message of support during their rally this weekend.
Protests have included many elements of U.S. color revolutions with tactics such as violence — attacks on bystanders, media, police and emergency personnel. Similar tactics were used in Ukraine, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, e.g. violent street barricades. U.S. officials and media criticized the government’s response to the violent protests, even though they have been silent on the extreme police violence against the Yellow Vests in France. Demonstrators also use swarming techniques and sophisticated social media messaging targeting people in the U.S..
Mass protests have continued. On July 9, Chief Executive Carrie Lam pronounced the bill dead and suspended it. Protesters are now calling for the bill to be withdrawn, Lam to resign and police to be investigated. For more on the protests and U.S. involvement, listen to our interview with K. J. Noh on Clearing the FOG.
What Is Driving Discontent in Hong Kong?
The source of unrest in Hong Kong is the economic insecurity stemming from capitalism. In 1997, Britain and China agreed to leave “the previous capitalist system” in place for 50 years.
Hong Kong has been ranked as the world’s freest economy in the Heritage’s Index of Economic Freedom since 1995 when the index began. In 1990, Milton Friedman described Hong Kong as the best example of a free-market economy. Its ranking is based on low taxes, light regulations, strong property rights, business freedom, and openness to global commerce.
Graeme Maxton writes in the South China Morning Post:

“The only way to restore order is through a radical change in Hong Kong’s economic policies. After decades of doing almost nothing, and letting the free market rule, it is time for the Hong Kong government to do what it is there for; to govern in the interests of the majority.”
​

The issue is not the extradition proposal, Carrie Lam or China. What we are witnessing is an unrestricted neo-liberal economy, described as a free market on steroids. Hong Kong’s economy relative to China’s gross domestic product (GDP) has fallen from a peak of 27 percent in 1993 to less than 3 percent in 2017. During this time, China has had tremendous growth, including in nearby market-friendly Shenzen, while Hong Kong has not.
As Sara Flounders writes, “For the last 10 years wages have been stagnant in Hong Kong while rents have increased 300 percent; it is the most expensive city in the world. In Shenzhen, wages have increased 8 percent every year, and more than 1 million new, public, green housing units at low rates are nearing completion.”
Hong Kong has the world’s highest rents, a widening wealth gap and a poverty rate of 20 percent. In China, the poverty rate fell from 88 percent in 1981 to 0.7 percent in 2015, according to the World Bank.
Hong Kong in Chinese Context
Ellen Brown writes in “Neoliberalism Has Met Its Match in China,” that the Chinese government owns 80 percent of banks, which make favorable loans to businesses, and subsidizes worker costs. The U.S. views China subsidizing its economy as an unfair trade advantage, while China sees long-term, planned growth as smarter than short-term profits for shareholders.
The Chinese model of state-controlled capitalism (some call it a form of socialism) has lifted 800 million people out of poverty and built a middle class of over 420 million people, growing from four percent in 2002, to 31 percent. The top 12 Chinese companies on the Fortune 500 are all state-owned and state-subsidized including oil, solar energy, telecommunications, engineering, construction companies, banks, and the auto industry. China has the second-largest GDP, and the largest economy based on Purchasing Power Parity GDP, according to the CIA, IMF and World Bank.
China does have significant problems. There are thousands of documented demonstrations, strikes and labor actions in China annually, serious environmental challenges, inequality and social control through the use of surveillance technology. How China responds to these challenges is a test for their governance.
China describes itself as having an intraparty democracy. The eight other legal “democratic parties” that are allowed to participate in the political system cooperate with but do not compete with the Communist Party. There are also local elections for candidates focused on grassroots issues. China views Western democracy and economics as flawed and does not try to emulate them but is creating its own system.
China is led by engineers and scientists, not by lawyers and business people. It approaches policy decisions through research and experimentation. Every city and every district is involved in some sort of experimentation including free trade zones, poverty reduction and education reform. “There are pilot schools, pilot cities, pilot hospitals, pilot markets, pilot everything under the sun, the whole China is basically a giant portfolio of experiments, with mayors and provincial governors as Primary Investigators.” In this system, Hong Kong could be viewed as an experiment in neoliberal capitalism.
The Communist Party knows that to keep its hold on power, it must combat inequalities and shift the economy towards a more efficient and more ecological model. Beijing has set a date of 2050 to become a “socialist society” and to achieve that, it seeks improvements in social, labor and environmental fields.
Where does Hong Kong fit into these long-term plans? With 2047 as the year for the end of the agreement with the U.K., U.S. and Western powers are working toward preserving their capitalist dystopia of Hong Kong and manufacturing consensus for long-term conflict with China.
How this conflict of economic and political systems turns out depends on whether China can confront its contradictions, whether Hong Kongers can address the source of their problems and whether US empire can continue its dollar, political and military dominance. Today’s conflicts in Hong Kong are rooted in all of these realities.
Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers co-directPopular Resistance.

https://consortiumnews.com/2019/08/19/hong-kong-in-crosshairs-of-global-power-struggle/

 

[moose eater]

Last one for a while...

Partisans galore seem to equate patriotism and more with allowing their chosen masters to continue screwing them..

Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, and servitude.

'The Whole Fvckin' Thing Is Comin' Down'

A music video, by The Frank Factor

https://archive.org/details/youtube-ows-OccupyWallStreetOccupyOurGovernment-Y7NBHX1P_9g