Executive Privilege of the Unitary Executive?

Executive privilege does not over-ride the need of the people, who are the superior to every elected official (a lesson we apparently need to chastise them with), to know the actions the government takes and reasoning and motives behind these actions. Everything the President does in governing is done in the name, and for the sake of the People. If this is not the case then the President must be removed, the Constitution and the spirit of American liberty do not allow, but instead demands it.

Impeach the lot, now, for this nation will not survive another year under the rule of King George. The oligarchy is entrenched and fighting for it's survival, they will gladly maintain their power with the blood of American citizens, both soldiers and the general populace. Revolution is being forced upon those who would live with liberty and justice. The sooner the task of removing this cancerous growth from the Government is accomplished, the less suffering will be entailed, and the faster we as a nation will heal. Our President relies on his scope of power as Commander in Chief, not as President of the United States (when was the last time anyone recalls him referring to himself in that capacity). Since War has never been declared by this Nation since World War II his position is directly against American values and the Supreme Law of the Land. Yet this administration, led by the power-hungry and clueless, bases all of it's claims of the Unitary Executive powers on the fact that the nation is at war.... only Congress has the power to declare war, and they have failed to do so.

I would submit that those who sponsored the War Powers Act granting the current President the ability to invade a foreign sovereign nation, overthrow it's elected government, and use the armed forces of the United States of America to further an ill-defined and ludicrous agenda, which has accomplished nothing but fattening the coffers of certain corporate interests at the expense of Americas good will and reputation, are as guilty of treason as the current Administration and have placed themselves in peril of impeachment themselves, if by no other means than recall as our elected representatives.

The American people, those already awakened and alert, and those now awakening to the theft of our rights and liberties have had enough. It is up to us who are awake and aware to raise the alarm wherever we can. I would prefer my own children not know the pain and savagery of Civil War, but unless this insult to the Constitutional form of Governance that has kept this nation free of tyranny is addressed now, it will come. No American worthy of the title will submit to tyranny or the loss of liberty and justice. I fear that if we do not raise our voices now, and make our will known, we shall in the end have to raise arms against a form of governance every bit as unbearable and odious as the last King George who sought to treat the American people as chattel and vassals to the throne.

With liberty comes responsibility and the need to be alert to all enemies of that liberty, both foreign and domestic. Though he was not an American I still value the words and wisdom of Winston Churchill who stated:

"Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not so costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no chance of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."

We no longer have the luxury of time. When Congressional committee members who have oversight of Homeland Security are denied access to emergency plans for continuity of government this should be a rather significant danger signal. This Administration has surpassed all other previous Administration in paranoid distrust of Congress, and of the people of this nation. It is becoming glaringly obvious that the only thing this Administration fears and distrusts is... We the People.

Corporate Takeover

The issues in America today stem not from "politics" so much as systemic poisoning. One of the most overused phrases since the 1960's to the present day has been "the Corporate Takeover of America". The alarms have been sounded, over and over, but unlike a fire unless you know where and what to look for, you won't see much in the way of smoke and flames.

I started rethinking this subject lately when I stumbled across a DVD at my local video store, The Corporation. It looked interesting, it's one of my favorite subjects, so I rented it and played it that night. What I saw was proof of a concept that had been nagging at me for years. I've always wondered how so many corporations could act so irresponsibly and even malevolently, when the bulk of the people employed by these entities are for the most part just very ordinary people. The answer was presented clearly and concisely, and jarred me awake like a well aimed slap to the face.

Corporations, by design, are not evil but rather psychotic. If any individual displayed the behaviors that most modern corporations do, in and against the public, they would be either imprisoned or a least placed in an institution for the criminally insane. These behaviors are mapped into corporate entities, not as an accident but as their reason for existence, and unless regulated and controlled by external forces, will evolve to their ultimate end... an all consuming, amorphous, and amoral entity subjugating the individuals of society and feeding off both their trust and fears.

The rise of the multi-national corporations, and their control of wealth, influence and power can be checked, and defended against by the people. In America, as a democratically governed Republic, the government was often the only thing standing between destructive greed and enslavement, and the public good. Something changed in the latter half of the 20th century, the American people voted in a presidential election not for their own self-interests and the common good but instead voted as if they were participating in some precursor of American Idol. Thus was born the Age of Voodoo Economics and the releasing of the most psychotic entities created, to do as they wished unfettered and uncontrolled.

Corporate influence on government has begun to cross the line, from influence to control. First lets take a quick peek behind the curtain at the power structure of Corpzilla, Inc. Businesses are NOT democracies, this is obvious to anyone who has been in the workforce for more than a week. In fact probably the closest model that could be applied would be the feudal system of the Dark Ages. The rulers are the Board of Directors, equivalent to the nobility, but these folks are entrusted to carry out the edicts of the real powers that be in their universe... the majority stock-holders. The Board has one mission, and one mission only, and that is to generate income for the shareholders... and if the small shareholders interests conflict with the major players goals, well as we said... a business is not a democracy. The politics of Corporatocracy are based on the simplest of rules, that the major shareholders recieve maximum profits, even if it means stealing from the customers and employees. There lies the crux of the problem, and the source of the systemic poisoning of the American form of government. By removing controls on Business, and aligning governmental influence with Big Business the traditional roles of Government versus Business have been reversed. Corporate politics is serious, dangerous, and brutal and is based on a top down mode of rule.

Now lets take a quick look at current politics. The Bush administration has put forth the notion of the Unitary Executive, as an entity that overrules all other branches of the Government. They have been granted the power to wage (undeclared) war by fiat decision, they have taken the position that our Constitutionally guaranteed liberties exist only if they do not inconvenience the Executive branch and/or question their authority. They argue that the country is at war, despite the fact that war was never declared by the one branch of Government that has that right. Backed by the top echelon of the Justice Dept. and the Supreme Court they defy Congress and take as their own the rights and privileges that have always been the domain of Peoples branch of the Government.. the Legislature.

I submit that this current Administration, in collusion with Congress, are replacing the carefully balanced form of Governance, guaranteed by the Constituion and based on the consent of the People, with a classic Corporate form of Governance. A form which sees the People not as the source of it's legitimate power, but as a resource to be manipulated and exploited. This is the true threat of Corporate power when unchecked by regulation and taxation, in the end the Government itself is absorbed by Big Money and Big Business. Unless we the People of these United States reclaim our own rights, and the power guaranteed us by Rule of the Supreme Law of the Land we will become nothing more than high-tech versions of our peasant ancestors from the Middle Ages.

Where does time go?

It's been far too long since I last posted anything here. My apologies to one and all. The "salt mine" is trying a new cost effective tactic, which in the old days we called "short staffing". Ever wonder why wages don't keep pace with inflation, but productivity is up? Unfortunately the brains at corporate, and the bean counters often get the terms "cost effective" and "cheap" confused... they are NOT synonyms.

One of my favorite functions at my last job was to explain to new employees, and sometimes lower management, the realities of the Orwellian world of Corporatocracy. I would usually this by explaining the HQ view of the favored term of Human Resources. By simply breaking it down into the two terms that composed the mythological beast that projected a false aura of benign concern for labor.

• Human: You and I. Members of the species Homo Sapiens (or Homo Modernus). The people doing the toil because HQ doesn't want to invest in robotics on the scale that is needed to replace us all, and despite the opinions of some of the executives, monkeys really can't be trained to do this work effectively. Besides the customers don't respond well to interacting with AI drones.
• Resource: A commodity, or set of commodities to be exploited for profit, with the lowest possible investment. Remember that from atop the Dark Tower of the Masters, labor is not seen as individuals but a mass of warm bodied energy sources to generate wealth, why do you think they usually refer to workers as the 'labor pool'. Now let's get back to our pods and plug in, Copper Tops, the CEO needs a new jet.

I thought for a long time about inserting something on the line of a disclaimer, possibly even an apology to those dedicated individuals who do try to do the human thing working in Human Resouce positions. I decided against it for two reasons.

• I'm jaded, cynical, in other words a pragmatic realist, and strive for honesty in every word and action. I report on what I observe and while this is subjective, so is life. It's all personal in the end. While I try to avoid hurting peoples feelings to fill some emotional need to make myself feel better at the expense of anothers suffering, I learned a long time ago that cushioning the blows can often the be the cruelest thing to do in the long run.
• Too many people buy into the underlying power plays that form modern American business practices, in regard to Labor, by swallowing the bait of becoming a house slave and elevating themselves from being a field slave. How they deal with the cognitive dissonance depends on the individuals, but I will not reinforce any self-deceptions that allow any of us to continue believing the false myths that keep most of us in actual and intellectual poverty.
  

It is all too obvious in observing many current issues that the Corporate view of Labor is an exploitable resource, and that this resource is self-perpetuating as long as the system itself is not examined by the workers. When ethics, real ethics, has to be put to the Cost Effectiveness test, which is the final deciding factor in formulating practices and policy, then it is time to ask the questions that the elite don't want us to even be aware of.

Couldn't say it better...

... so I won't. Watch, listen... think.

Land of Confusion

Counter-spin

... or when Madison Avenue meets American politics.

The entire Iraq effort is seemingly a gigantic exercise in 'spin'... or the Art of Lying While Avoiding Being Dragged Into Court.

Lets examine a few elements of the current Neo-conservative agenda and it's attending propaganda.

To avoid being tagged as someone who is unpatriotic, the right wing would have us believe that we must 'support the mission' in Iraq without questioning the awesome wisdom of the Oval Office (ignore the man behind the curtain, listen to the Wizard of Oz).

The challenge is to accurately define 'the mission' in terms that justify the destruction of the American military and the draining of the American economy. In other words what can the military do, that is within their defined roles in our society, to 'Win in Iraq'? Secondary question is what has the current Administration, including the Commander in Chief (when did he stop being the President of the United States) done to make a military solution possible (if it is possible)?

The attacks of the far Right also invokes the mantra of 'embolden the enemy' as a knee-jerk reply to silence any questioning or dissent of anyone who questions what is going on in Iraq, or Afghanistan for that matter (roughly 70% of the American population). So here's the second challenge: Properly define the 'enemy' as a valid military force, that can be readily identified and neutralized without collateral damage, and define precisely who the enemy is, by demonstrating with verifiable documention (or at least credible sources) what proportion of the Iraqi population is the 'enemy' (please bear in mind that if more than 50% of the Iraqi population is the 'enemy' then America IS an occupying aggressor). Should be fairly simple, if what we've recieved from the White House and Department of Defense is accurate, reliable and... here's the hard part... logical.

Winning the Lottery

I've considered in the past what could possibly motivate working class American citizens to repeatedly vote into power, people and parties whose philosophy and platforms are totally counter to their own best interests. As a people we elect politicians to Federal and state positions who have shown over and over that they will protect those at the top of the economic ladder. These servants of corporate wealth, and oligopolies that the largest corporate entities have become consistently pass laws, regulations, and measures to benefit Big Business over the working American. Since there are, and probably always will be, more low and middle income people than the small elite at the lofty top of the money pyramid, why do people buy into the confused and muddled rhetoric of pandering politicians in the pockets of Big Money. Logically the average worker should be politically leaning toward socialist policies.

One night over a few glasses of homemade wine with some friends it hit me. The Middle Class Myth in America is bought into by the average blue/white/pink collared worker on the same basis that Lottery tickets are bought. Now before you dismiss this idea think about it. The average lottery ticket buyer knows that the odds are incredibly high against actually winning, yet the hope is there that they will win (after all somebody has to... right?). Compare this to the realities of the typical 'rags to riches' fable we've all been raised on.

The moral of most of the stories are that if one works hard, plays by the rules, and doesn't upset the status quo that one "may" rise to the top, into that lofty altitude where all of ones financial needs are met, where the "disposable" part of income is much greater than the part needed to keep body and soul together. It's an inspiring legend, on the same level as the Arthurian legends, Beowulf, or the classic American western movie, and about as accurate and relevant. Yet it serves a useful purpose, to those select few who already control the mass of wealth. It's always implied, in every retelling of the legend, that unless one adopts the mannerisms, viewpoint, and goals of the "Winners" at the top of the heap, one can never succeed. To succeed one must develop an aggressive, narrowly channeled and focused pursuit of profit, and thus add to ones position, prestige, and personal wealth. In other words the road to fabulous success and wealth is a simple formula that only needs to be followed (to the benefit of the upper echelon when you examine it closely).

The effect is to isolate workers from each other, for also implied, and is obvious to even the most casual observer, only a few can rise to the top. Bear in mind that there are various versions of the Myth. The typical blue collar version is that after years of loyal, productive service to The Company one will rise to well paid management position, with a cushy basket of benefits. This concept always reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:

Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone. - John Maynard Keynes

Add to the legend the aggressive anti-union practices of corporate management and again, the workers are isolated from each other, and in fact must daily deal with a gnawing fear that some uncomplimentary comment on management, company policy, or working conditions will land them in the unemployment line.

The politics of fear are just as real in the workplace as any other arena of life in America. Workers are led to believe, rightly or wrongly, that they have no power what-so-ever against the people on the top floor. Organized labor is lumped into the same dark, fear tinged realm of all organized entities outside the purview of Officially Sanctioned groups, such as the the two main American political parties, various 'safe' churches, and various toothless social clubs who accomplish nothing more than a melancholy shaking of their heads over the plight of the poor.

If most American workers had a lick of common sense, and sense of self-preservation, they would be actively organizing into collective bargaining units. Yes, I know, many will fire back at this position with the jaded, worn-out cliche about labor union corruption. To that I only need point to the special interest cesspool in Washington, D.C. and ask "Could it actually be any worse? At least Joe Average would have a fighting chance to gain a real living wage, real benefits, and some small amount of security." It has been pointed out time after time over many years that Capitalism has no real connection to Democracy, in fact the less democratic an country is, the more Capitalism flourishes. One need only to look to mainland China in recent years to see the proof of this. The ruling elite in Chinese society are NOT against capitalism, as long as they are controlling and benefiting from it.

It's time to wake from the dream, open our eyes and minds, and start making noise and waves. There is nothing inherently wrong with capitalistic practices, as long as it is regulated to do the least harm to the society in which it thrives and profits. Despite it protestations to the contrary Commerce does have a moral obligation to the nation in which it thrives and profits. If Capital will not fund the processes necessary for the well being of it's workers on it's own, then the Government must step in to insure the overall welfare of the nation including its workers, requiring higher taxes on those who most benefit from Commerce and who can logically pay the share necessary to insure a productive and secure populace. When Capital uses it's wealth to control the very entity that should be regulating and prohibiting its most dangerous and damaging practices then it becomes a moral battle of money against numbers, of a selfish aristocracy against the welfare of the people. Without Labor there can be no Capital. Without the consent of the governed, there can be no legitimate government.

A Song That Says So Much

If you haven't heard this yet, check it out.
We Can't Make It Here Anymore - by James Mcmurtry

Class warfare has been going on in this country for a very long time. Why do average, working-class Americans accept leadership that has, and will continue, to cheat them out of political power, economic security, and the basic needs of life? More to follow. Meanwhile, listen and try to enjoy, and don't forget to think.

An introduction would be in order here.

I find myself at an odd crossroad in life. Having lived my teens and twenties during the late 60s and 70s I embraced a social consciousness that was based on Equality, Liberty, and Justice. Over the years I joined the American workforce, married, had children and became a 'productive member of society'. It seems during that period my political fire turned to barely glowing embers. Lately I find myself enraged by the senseless, self-centered, and ethically indifferent society that has seemed to grow up around me. Like some abandoned lot now overgrown with weeds and pests, which we have to navigate through every day of our lives. Most people I encounter are actually decent human beings, though insulated from the tragedies and perils surrounding us by inattention to the bigger picture and the scams going on behind the scenes. The media tells us things are OK, so does our government at all levels, and we have lots of new cheap toys to keep us entertained... and unquestioning of the fact that our reality is shrinking, growing colder, and becoming ever harder to maintain.

What caused the re-awakening of my political and social consciousness? Like most people trapped in the fantasy of the American Way of Life it took having the comfy bed of my life yanked out from under me. After years of working in the technical support field, which I found both challenging and rewarding, I was replaced by offshore workers. In fact part of my duties in the last six months involved helping train them. I can't fault them for the decisions made at the corporate level, based entirely on the (short-sighted) principles of Cost Effectiveness and Enhanced Profitability. I found offshore workers spoke reasonably good English, were polite to a fault, eager to adapt new methods, and for the most part technically clueless (and absolutely terrified of losing their $3/hr job).

As I and my fellow employees started looking for new jobs we discovered that the bulk of our industry was already based offshore. This was my wakeup call, and the start of my re-awakening of how far my own country had devolved. I looked back over my own history in the labor force and was surprised when reviewing it. When I entered the work force full-time it was in a job paying roughly $.50 over minimum wage, with retirement and health benefits. On that single wage, without a college degree, in the retail industry, a family of four lived comfortably though not luxuriously with some degree of financial security. Thirty five years later I find myself working for the ultimate big-box entity and barely able to support a very frugal lifestyle, with no real benefits, and no security (staffing is already squeezed to the minimums handed down from Corporate policy makers, but further downsizing is always implied).

On a side note; consider the next time you're irritated at "poor service" in one of these stores that the department which should have 8 full time employees is probably being handled by 6 people, all working at more than 'minimum wage' but less than a real 'living wage'. In fact the frustrated, detached attitude of the employees may very well be a result of constant worry over how to pay $1,000 dollar worth of bills on $800, or they're exhausted from having to work two jobs just to meet living expenses. Don't expect $12 an hour service from someone making less than $8 an hour.

Each subject I researched in my quest to figure out "What the heck happened?", led me to another subject. Each discovery of how far the rot in our society had spread made me angrier and more determined to do something... even if only to rant and rail against the untenable situation that most Americans now find themselves in. I refuse to crawl back into the bed of sweet dreams we've been conned into accepting over the last quarter of a century.

In the posts I intend to put here in the future I'll touch on many subjects but they all have the same motivating seed at the core. The seed is that we have lost our way and our sense of empowerment, by blindly accepting what the media, the government, and the corporatocracy pushes at us as reality. We the People are the force that powers this society, but we've been intentionally distracted and lied to in order to support a comfortable status quo for the small sector at the top.

Who would do such a thing to a society based on a political system intentionally created to keep power out of the hands of an elite? Follow the money. Our nation, America, is being subverted and steered by a small group of people who firmly believe that they have a God-given right to control the government and the people, simply because they have amassed the biggest piles of money (while totally ignoring the fact that without the labor force they'd be unable to increase or even sustain their wealth). The trends are alarming, even horrifying when followed to their logical ends.

Wealth Inequality in 21st Century Threatens Economy and Democracy