How's that workin' for us now?

Some of you may not be old enough to remember when St. Ronnie, patron saint of greedy corporations and big business, said that government wasn't the solution to the problems facing our country and that indeed, government was the problem.  

Well, a succession of US Presidents, including Bill Clinton, after him took his mantra to heart and they cut government programs and used that money for corporate welfare and they privatized many essential governmental services.  I got to wondering how all that has worked out for us and here's what I came up with:

• We've had more food and product recalls than ever before. 
• FAA inspectors have been told to go easy on airline safety checks.
• We've had more deaths due to shoddy FDA tests on drugs than ever before.
• We are losing millions of dollars a day to companies like KBR, Halliburton, and Blackwater in what are known as "cost plus" contracts with the federal government.  Cost plus means the companies in question don't have to be competitive in price, they charge the government what ever they like for what they provide and we have to pay for it,
• Corporate America is running, or should I say ruining, the Labor Department, HUD, the FDA, the USDA, and many other cabinet level offices and departments.
• Corporate America is writing our laws and paying our legislators to vote for them.  Case in point, I refer you to the Medicare Prescription Drug program, it was written by big pharma lobbyists.  
• Our legislators are not beholden to us, they are beholden to whoever pays for their reelection campaigns.

Our government is supposed to be a government of the people, that is run by the people, for the people.  Instead ever since St. Ronnie hoodwinked us, it's become a government of the corrupt corporations, that is run by the corrupt corporations, in order to line the pockets of rich white men and women.  Reagan started it, Bush the elder continued it, Clinton went along, and Bush the idiot perfected it.  And we're all getting screwed as a result.

Maybe after the other shoe drops in the current financial meltdown we can kick these greedy bastards out and we can rebuild our country like FDR and the Democratic Party did after the Great Depression.  All those programs and laws that they enacted helped people like you and me, the working class that built this country.  And they, Reagan, Bill "NAFTA is good!" Clinton, the Bushes, and their enablers in Congress, dismantled them.  

The period after the Great Depression, which by the way was brought on by out of control capitalism which is what we have today, and after World War 2 was the most productive period ever for working class people.  Our parents and grandparents were able to climb out of poverty, buy homes, cars, and give us baby boomers great childhoods because laws were written that reigned in big business.  Big business still made money, they just didn't make as much as they wanted, some of their profits went back to their employees and to the cities and states where they had their factories and stores.  The big difference between then and now is big business doesn't care about you or me anymore, they don't have to care because they got the laws changed in their favor.  The money that used to go to our parents and grandparents and to our communities now goes to the people at the top of the corporate food chain, look at how much their pay has increased and look at how much yours has decreased.

St. Ronnie led us all down a rathole.  And then him and his buddies in big business filled the hole in with dirt.  It's time to dig out and take back our country, our economy, our Congress, and our world.  What Wall Street wants is not what's good for us, less restrictions and less taxes on big businesses and the rich is not the answer, the fact that they do not pay their fair share is the fucking problem.  It's time to make big business and the rich pay their fair share again and to have some regulation again. 

Re-captioned New Yorker Cartoon #12

'Your honor, this couple stands accused of going into a Wal-Mart and not buying anything. They also did not stop at the Starbucks in the lobby to buy a cup of coffee on their way up here. I recommend you throw the book at these anti corporate terrorists!"

(This cartoon originally appeared in the 9-22-86 issue of the New Yorker.)

This is why I love Naomi Klein

I may have to run out and buy her new book when it hits the stores here.

I remember extolling the virtues of her last book No Logo to a young female cousin of mine. I was telling my then teenage cousin what a bad thing that corporations were branding everything in sight including her clothing and she looked at me like I had three heads. My cousin said something like, "But I like Old Navy and Gap clothes. I like people seeing that I wear those kinds of clothes," and as soon as she said that I thought, "Oh shit, we may have already lost the fight to take back our lives from the greedy corporate pigs."

But then Ms. Klein comes out with a new book and she restores my faith in people once more.

Thank you once again Canada for producing another great American.

Who's really smokin' what here?

I saw an article in yesterday's USA Today about two farmers who are suing the DEA over the right to grow hemp in this country. A DEA spokes tool, a dildo by the name of Garrison Courtney, said, "Hemp is marijuana. There's no distinguishing feature between marijuana and hemp." So the DEA refuses to let anyone grow hemp in the USA. We import every bit of hemp that is used in products that contain hemp. The hemp we import is grown in Canada, Europe, and China.

First of all, the DEA dick is wrong. Industrial hemp has very low levels of THC, that's the stuff in marijuana that gets you high. In fact it has minuscule amounts of THC. Marijuana grown for recreational drug use is cultivated to have high levels of THC. So in reality Mr. DEA Dumbass, there is a distinguishing feature between the two.

Secondly, with all the family farms going belly up in this nation would it not make more sense to let farmers grow hemp than to import it? I got nothing against the fine folks in Canada, Europe, and China but I'd rather see more of this

and way less of these.
Hemp is almost a miracle product for our sick planet and for people everywhere. Here, take a look at what you can make out of hemp:

I wonder how many jobs we would create if we were allowed to grow hemp legally? I wonder how many new businesses we would see pop up if we were allowed to process hemp grown in this country? I wonder how many family farms would stay in business and out of the clutches of industrial corporate hands if we were allowed to grow hemp in this country legally?

How about we do this, let's take our country back from the politicians who have no idea what the fuck they're doing when they tell us we can't grow hemp. Let's dismantle the DEA and end this fiction called the "war on drugs," it's filling our jails needlessly and it's actually having the opposite effect they want it to have. Let's sow the fields with hemp and make rope, paper, personal care products, food, oils, and clothes out of it. And then after all that, let's roll a joint as big around as your arm, smoke it, and then have some good old fashioned pot sex.

How about it America? Are you with me?