Archive for the ‘polly-ticks’ Category

Imagine the Tea Party as Black Tea

Saturday, April 24th, 2010

Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protester — these black protesters with guns — be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic? What if they were Arab-Americans? Because, after all, that’s what happened recently when white gun enthusiasts descended upon the nation’s capital, arms in hand, and verbally announced their readiness to make war on the country’s political leaders if the need arose.

Imagine that white members of Congress, while walking to work, were surrounded by thousands of angry black people, one of whom proceeded to spit on one of those congressmen for not voting the way the black demonstrators desired. Would the protesters be seen as merely patriotic Americans voicing their opinions, or as an angry, potentially violent, and even insurrectionary mob? After all, this is what white Tea Party protesters did recently in Washington.

Imagine that a rap artist were to say, in reference to a white president: “He’s a piece of shit and I told him to suck on my machine gun.” Because that’s what rocker Ted Nugent said recently about President Obama.

An important and worthwhile read.

The dirty fuckin hippies… were right?

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

Caveat: I’m a dirty fucking hippy conservative. Let that twist your mind for a second.

SCOTUS and corporate campaign finance.

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

It occurs to me that this current ruling does pave the way for, say, a group of companies to band together and fund/start a whole new political party. “Change” was a very successful message in the last election and what’s a bigger change than a third party with a monetary base that actually gives it a chance of success? “Join the Technocratic Party! Broadband and iPhones for everyone!” or “Join the Plutocratic Party! Don’t you want to be rich like us? We’ll tax the poor and trickle it down!” A pretty far-fetched idea but within the realm of possibility – and what corporations spend on propaganda public relations makes Barack Obama’s out-of-the-ballpark presidential campaign look like peanuts.

Lets hope no one gets this bright idea.

If Corporations are People

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

Then they cannot be bought nor sold.

They must attend jury duty.

They can go to jail.

If you live with them for a certain amount of time, you may become common law married to them depending on your state’s laws.

If they give you a black eye, we should see them on Cops.

They can go insane.

They need to eat, drink, and shit.

They should be subject to an inheritance tax when they die.

If they cheat on you, divorce them and sue for alimony and custody.

They should mate, settle down, have kids, and watch them grow up while they retire gracefully.

Do you really believe corporations are people? Well, it’s the law, and the first amendment protects them.

The company CEO dictates policy for how political contributions are disbursed from the company. Tens, hundreds, or hundreds of thousands of people may be earning money for that CEO. But now he decides how their productivity shapes American politics. These corporations are multi-national. If wealthy foreigners, foreign companies or even foreign sovereignty want to get involved, they just have to “buy X amount of whatever” from an American company in exchange for X-10% donations to American political figures. Don’t think it will happen?

Betcha didn’t even think the Great Recession (which I highly doubt it truly over) was gonna happen, didja?

Remembering Haiti before the Quake

Friday, January 15th, 2010

5 by 5

This earthquake is only the latest in a string of disasters, mostly humanitarian, that have hit Haiti since it became the first black slave nation to win its independence, albeit with a heavy penalty that hung around their necks for the next 150 years.

On 1 January 1804, Dessalines, the new leader under the dictatorial 1801 constitution, declared Haiti a free republic. Haiti was the first independent nation in Latin America, the first post-colonial independent black-led nation in the world, and the only nation whose independence was gained as part of a successful slave rebellion. The country was crippled by years of war, its agriculture devastated, its formal commerce nonexistent, and the people uneducated and mostly unskilled.

Haiti agreed to make reparations to French slaveholders in 1825 in the amount of 150 million francs, reduced in 1838 to 60 million francs, in exchange for French recognition of its independence and to achieve freedom from French aggression. This indemnity bankrupted the Haitian treasury and mortgaged Haiti’s future to the French banks providing the funds for the large first installment, permanently affecting Haiti’s ability to be prosperous.

There is much, much more to this sad story, including the United States’ muckery in their situation to their detriment.

People have been fighting for Haiti for years. I’ve personally met Leisa Faulkner, who is again going to Haiti to help. It’s a sad tragedy, what’s happened there in the past days, but with sudden international fame maybe the rest of their plight will receive attention. The poor populace just wants their democratically elected president to be president and not forced to flee from the country time and again. Lavalas!