The OWL

Monday, July 29, 2013

STOP!! THIEF ??

A Tale of Two Attorneys-General?

In the mid-80's, Peter Drucker warned his students that 401K funds were not "protected money".

The warning did little good for me, because I retired in 2000, at too young an age to take personal charge of my retirement funds; under the law. I had to roll-them-over to "financial professionals". A "reputable financial service company" clipped me for a couple hundred thousands of dollars in that year's Dot.Com Crash. Congress designed that fiasco, along with NAFTA, and the laws establishing Multi-National Corporations. Our "Legislators" were the real criminals in those deals, it turns out. A wise old gentlemen I worked with in my corporate career said once that "when Congress is in session, no one in the country is safe". He was Right-On!

Now we learn that they don't write our laws -- the Lobbyists Do!

The Red Necks in Congress (read: Repoobs), HATE Eric Holder, our current Top Cop (Attorney-General). They LOVED Alberto Gonzales, "Dubbya's" Top Cop. What a Contrast! From Enron, to the Melt-Down, one could argue that there were no "Cops" on the beat between the years of 2000 and 2008. In fact, during the entire 8-year run of Dubbya's tenure, NOTHING seemed to work. All of our safeguards failed COMPLETELY! How curious!

Hapless (helpless?) Alberto didn't make it all the way though. He was pressured to resign

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/27/washington/27cnd-gonzales.html?_r=0 in August of 2007. At least he got out before the crash!

Citizens of this country have a peculiar view of MONEY. If you can amass a great deal of it, they don't care how you get it. They LOATHE a petty thief, however. Our jails are full of poor white, black, and brown petty thieves. Steal millions of dollars and you become a celebrity; steal a loaf of bread because your children are hungry and you'll wind up "under the jail"!

From stealing electric power (ENRON); to gun-running (Fast & Furious); to rippin'-off the entire economy; the Repoob boys were busy during Dubbya's days. After a long struggle, former House Majority Leader, Tom Delay, finally went to jail in 2013 (he resigned in 2005, and was sentenced in 2011) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/10/AR2011011000557.html, and http://inyourfaceradio.net/tom-delay-finally-going-to-jail/. This morning, Holder's FBI announced rescuing more than 100 young children who were kidnapped into human sex trafficking. Let's hope he gets around to some bankers or Hedge Fund boys before his tenure is ended. Its not really funny, is it?

Starting with the smaller housing bubbles of the late 1980s, and lasting until the late days (2006) of Dubbya's tenure, we had just one Fed Chairman -- Alan Greenspan! Whether you are an adherent of Financial Libertarianism, or De-regulation, you HAVE to think the years from 2000 to 2008 were significantly, and peculiarly, PECUNIARY and LARCENOUS!

Stay Vigilant! Protect yourselves!

Thursday, July 25, 2013

CAN'T "GET AWAY" from "GOD" ??

The "Non-White" Juror Speaks

The lone, "non-white" female juror in the Trayvon Martin Trial has come forward, saying her "heart" voted "guilty"; but "the law" caused her to vote to acquit. She then said "Zimmerman got away with murder; but he can't get away from God". How do we wrap our minds around this?

Perhaps in the same way we all wrapped our minds around "Jonestown" in 1978? Does the mind "break down" in situations where God, and Race, and the worship of "whiteness" and/or the "power" of "whiteness" intersect? The non-white juror has been described as a "dark Latina". The "Pope-Too" is busy, as I write, trying to shore up the mind-sets of Brazilians and other Latin-Americans, in his effort to halt the erosion of his "faithful".

Where do we get a handle on this poisonous "Kool-Aid"? When do we begin to adhere to the teachings against worshipping "false Gods"? Is the God that condones and supports the likes of Jim Jones, and Mark O'Mara, and Zimmerman, a God worthy of our support? Or, is the God of Trayvon's mother a different God from that of the white women of the Jury? If so, which God should command our allegiance?

We know from our history that Slave Owners would not permit blacks to assemble in numbers greater than three -- except in Church! Otherwise, they meted out death to blacks on the spot. Our dead Presidents routinely used black preachers in the same way as Slave Masters; to "police" and maintain control over black congregations and communities.

These are tough issues that persons of all colors must resolve as they proceed through this new century. The psychological "split" between our "beliefs" and our behaviors must be healed, somehow, or we all risk death and/or madness.

Stay Vigilant! Seek Sanity!

My "LIFETIME" and the "FED"

A "Different" View??

Just for fun, and a birthday present to myself, I'll take a look back (in this blog), 74 years, at those "Fed" Chairmen who have impacted my life; and the Presidents they "served". For an old black guy who blogs, this should offer a highly unique "view" of our Federal Reserve System. We're approaching the end of the term for Ben Bernanke ("Uncle" Ben, "Helicopter" Ben). From the hub-bub in the media over his possible successor, it looks like we can't keep him in the job. I couldn't wait for "Mumbles" (Greenspan) to get the Hell out of that job; but I sure would like to keep Ben. Why? For the first time in my long life, a Fed Chairman, simply by doing his job well, has assisted an historic President in rescuing our economy from an attack (internal, self-inflicted) unlike any other in our history.

Everyone points to the similarities between the damage the Repoobs inflicted on our economy in 2008, and that of the Great Depression. We're told that Ben is an "expert" on the Great Depression.

I was born in the waning years of the Great Depression, and, from what my family history relates, this is no Great Depression. A great THEFT, maybe?

To start, Roosevelt, (the good one) was President when I was born. His Fed Chair was Marriner S. Eccles (term end: Jan 31, 1948). He also served Harry Truman. He was succeeded by Thomas McCabe (term end: Mar 31, 1951), who served Truman (only). William McChesney Martin, Jr. (term end: Jan 31, 1970) served Eisenhower, Kennedy, "Lyddy Biddy", and "Tricky Dick". Then came Arthur Burns (term end: Jan 31, 1978), who covered the Watergate years of Nixon/Ford, and the early Carter years. The rest of "J.C.'s" years were covered by G. William Miller (term end: Aug 6, 1979) and Paul Volcker (term end: Aug 11, 1987). Remember the "J.C. Can Save America" posters? Well, he really did with the Volcker appointment. Mad Ronnie gets the credit for Volcker's brilliance, though. In August of 1987, "Ronnie" replaced Volcker with Alan Greenspan; ushering in what became the darkest period in our economic history since Hoover (before my time).

Greenspan (term end: Jan 31, 2006) carried "Daddy Bush", Bill Clinton, and "W"; getting the "Hell out of Dodge" before "All Hell" descended on the rest of us. That brings us back to Uncle Ben, who is slated to leave us in January of 2014. His singular, heroic, ability to do his job well under spectacularly bad economic conditions in this country; made it possible for the first black President to wake up a stupid, and supremely ignorant populace, and just maybe, save the country from itself?

This country really is all about money, and Ben has known money better than most who came before. Thanks, Ben!

Stay Vigilant! Flush the Crap in the HOUSE in 2014??

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

THE PRESIDENT GOES TO WARRENSBURG

"Education" and the Economy -- 74 Year Overview

Thirty miles to the east; and a bus ride every day to school. That was the "education opportunity" for black children of Warrensburg, Missouri in the 1940s and 1950s. At the end of their bus ride was C.C. Hubbard Elementary and High School, where those children received an education that, time has shown, was well above average for the state of Missouri and for much of our country at that time. It was the same circumstance for every black ("Colored" in those days) child for tens of miles in every direction from our school. They were my classmates between 1945 and 1957.

Toward the end of that period, "Integration" began to impact the younger children, at first, and, eventually destroyed C. C. Hubbard School. C.C. Hubbard, my next door neighbor, did not live to see that destruction, however; he died in 1947 -- well before the school began its decline. Generations of "Colored People" were educated there.

Now Warrensburg, a town that did not offer education decades ago to children of color (neither did any of the other towns within a 60-mile radius of C.C. Hubbard); is featured nationally by our first black President as an "innovator" in education. The education quest today is for a path to quality, affordable, and efficient education for youth of all colors. The country is in dire need of it. In my lifetime, education was not highly valued by the whites who controlled every aspect of our lives. Farmers, in general, did not see much value in education for any children; and certainly not for children of color. Remember, Missouri was a slave state, and vestiges of that history are still visible in 2013. Racial attitudes toward providing health care were far worse, then. Health care was deliberately denied to people of color, regardless of their ability to pay. "Colored" providers were the only option; wherever accessible.

The intrinsic racism of this country has sought to destroy chances for development of talent and creativity in poor and minority youth, for fear that white control could not be maintained. Policing is much easier for populations that are not "too smart". The pity is that whites have limited opportunities for their own youth, in the process. Not many of them are prepared adequately to compete in our global economy. Most prominent in the former-slave states; its impact can be seen in all parts of the country; even after decades of "integration" and internal migration.

This nation has burned through its post-war "fat", and infrastructure neglect in the areas of education and health have been laid bare. The Republicans seem to relish this circumstance. Their answer is to do nothing; let things fester. Austerity is their true religion. The old "social contracts" were burned in 1980 with the Rise of Reagan. Their unwillingness to see "the other" rise to its potential, for fear that the "overlords" may lose their ill-conceived "controls"; is a specter that has haunted this nation for centuries. Its still here among the monied classes; who are choking what life we have left in this economy.

Stay Vigilant! When is "Progress", not "Progress"?? When "Change" is illusory.

The "WHITE-RIGHT'S" DIALOGS ON RACE ??

"O'Reilly & Rep. King come "out-front" ?

The Race vitriol from the Repoobs and their FOX lackeys is heating up. Steve King, Representative from IA, and Bill O'Reilly from FOX-Land, are hitting the air and video waves blasting Blacks and Hispanics, full-bore. It's great to see and hear what the White Right Wing 'R-e-a-l-l-y' thinks of their fellow citizens. They're no longer hiding behind their trash talkers of the past; like Atwater and Rove.

This murdered black teenager from Florida has poked a hole in the "bubble" white citizens have used to shield them from having to confront their racial attitudes. Lancing a tumor can sometimes prove healthy, I guess.

King attacks Hispanics; http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/steve-king-undocumented-immigrants-mostly-130-pound-drug-runners-calves-size-cantaloupes, to curry the anti-immigrant and anti Hispanic vote. O'Reilly goes ballistic against Blacks . http://www.mediaite.com/tv/chris-hayes-blasts-bill-oreillys-super-racist-rant-maybe-problem-is-white-c . "Conservative" Hispanics blast the Republican Party (Repoobs) .ttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/conservative-latinos-slam-anti-immigrant-voices-ralph-reed-conference .

All of this should help minorities of all colors, and fair-minded whites, to see that we really live in a country divided into thirds: the wealthy, male WASP part, of our Founders; the poorer male white ethnics (and Jews) who washed up on our shores before the Civil War; and everyone else (non-white immigrants, descendants of black slaves, and descendants of Natives). After showing their asses to our first Black President, (for kicking their asses -- twice); they've decided to go full-out and run on white skin for 2014 and 2016. The Republicans are placing their bets on the middle-third (white ethnics like O'Reilly and Mark O'Mara).

It was that middle-third that formed the new union between Northern Whites and Southern Whites after our Civil War; setting the stage for Jim Crow Laws and the exclusion of all non-whites from the "Democracy" built, from the beginning, for whites. Read your "dead-presidents"; especially the OHIO presidents, like Taft.

Stay Vigilant! Get your popcorn, enjoy the show! Flush this crap in 2014?

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

OUR "USES" FOR CHILDREN

Will TRAYVON, or the ROYAL BABY PINCE "Define" the 21st Century??

The juxtaposition of the "Royal Birth", with the aftermath of the murder trial of TRAYVON, provides an opportunity to examine closely how we "value" children (and, thereby, all persons) in our "Western Culture" -- in these early days of the 21st century. It occurs to me that we have two very different "uses" for these individuals.

One will be used to continue the practice of "subjugation" by certain humans over all others; while the other, simply served as representative of the "other"; those persons assigned to absorb all of the world's abuses and scorn.

Even a casual contrast of the performance of our Media in relation to these events, occurring almost simultaneously, should keep us from continuing to ignore this scary reflection of who we are.

One mother will be pampered and praised, while the other must continue her heroic fight to protect the image of her son, while the Media relentlessly strives to denigrate the child, even in death. The bravery of that murdered child is beyond question. The behavior of the "justice system" and mass society can only be described as "reprehensible"; although not unexpected.

From the scenes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (where are the Angelitos Negros ??) to the events in Florida, the picture is consistent. Zimmerman was part of this fabric. His lineage predetermined his actions; as theirs did, for those attorneys (on both sides) in the trial, the judge, and the women of the jury. Our cruel beliefs and practices echo down through time; within the "users", and the innards of the people who are "used" or "abused". We are programmed to "set upon" one another in various ways.

I don't believe this world will continue to suffer these "uses" for our children; who come to us without any of these burdens. We place them upon our children, and we must stop it before its too late! Technology (nuclear and microelectronic) has produced the "firepower" for our total destruction! Time is short.

Stay Vigilant! "Celebrate" ALL Children, with respect. Demand accountability from all persons!

Monday, July 22, 2013

From "BLACK & WHITE" to "GREEN" ??

Is This Where TRAYVON "Leads" Us ??

On a dark, rainy, night, a teenage boy goes against a loaded gun with his fists; screaming for help (for what seems like minutes). We hear a gunshot, and the screams stop!. We all heard it; we all know it! Many whites will deny it, for reasons that are many and varied. But how does that matter?

Trayvon is telling us all, that whites cannot control our futures anymore; unless we allow it! In my two years studying the plight of non-whites (economically and socially) in South Florida, I was appalled to find that in the 21st century, the poor, (of all colors down there) are still "stuck on the Plantation"! The wealthy whites and Latin Oligarchy "cast offs" are only slightly better off. The place is a psychological and sociological "cuckoo's nest"! A very dangerous one, in fact.

The "Bushes" were busy mining the place at that time (one in the Governor's chair, the other in the White House). The Gods were kind, with hurricanes and FEMA money. And everyone in the pecking order was busy trying to get rich, while trying to screw everyone else. That was also true for the small and micro minority business "entrepreneurs". They were being "advised" by members of SCORE to engage in "flipping" houses. We all saw how that worked out for minorities.

That's the past! 2008 descends FOR ALL OF US like a veil; dividing our future from our past. People like me, with little future left, are able to see it a lot sooner than the young, who, (nature's way) are most often trapped into following blindly those around them. But if you know someone Trayvon's age (regardless of color or gender) please find a way to get this message to them: THE FUTURE IS GREEN -- FOR EVERYONE! Some, like the royal baby, will be immune from the coarser aspects of our future; but even they will have to "serve" within the "traps" they inherit; until they find the key to "break out".

The path to freedom lies in the mind. In the willingness to not follow the crowd. To turn off the T.V. No religion works anymore; especially for non-whites in this world. Read, meditate, think, and then follow what works for YOU! Life is extending longer and longer for everyone; the sooner the young realize this and plan to grow stronger and wealthier EVERY DAY, the better off they will be; and they may survive Trayvon's fate. We each have the (computing) power at our finger-tips to accomplish our individual freedom. Discipline and Patience are essential!

Today's example: DETROIT! People have made their fortunes there, and then abandoned the place. Smart (mostly white) money is in the process of "flipping" the city. They are using a "smart black" (the way the racist Defense used their white and female "back-up" as a jury in the trial) to do the dirty work of confiscating properties formerly held by blacks. Poor blacks will be cast out of Detroit; while richer, and whiter new residents descend on what is a "jewel" of real estate.

Stay Vigilant! Find a better, more rewarding way to "integrate"!