The OWL

Friday, February 14, 2014

TO MY: "SIGNIFICANT OTHER" ...

.. On "Valentine's Day"

"Thank You for keeping me alive, and as Happy as I can manage to be"! I LOVE YOU!!

On this "effed-up" Blue Ball, with the White Curse, perhaps we can all take time to pause and reflect on ways to switch the dialog from "Makers and Takers" to "Users and Abusers"?? Sure, Brother Withers sang "You Can Keep On Using Me..."; But REALLY?? This complaint swings in all directions, from love lives, to work relationships, to financial relationships, to just basic human RESPECT! Driven by forces of Race, Class, Gender, Tribe, and Religion; it remains an open question whether we can all redress the ways we relate with one another; in time to halt the slouch we're in that leads to our extinction. We have been in this condition since the Fall of Rome, and, perhaps since the days of Pyrrhus and Hannibal! We ALL have to work together to root it out!. "Marketing" us with a new Pope with a kinder face than the Nazi one given his "pink slip"; won't cut it!!

Its not the STRESS; the lack of TIME; or lack of MONEY: It's whether we are truthful and honest in our relationships! Finger-pointing may illuminate, but never solves anything!

Gentrification, MAY now be the new Racism/Tribalism/Gender/Class toxic brew that is being stirred up to deal with the 21st Century. Let's hope we can nip this poison in the bud??

Stay Vigilant! You can't eat MONEY (ask Midas)!!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

THE "HELL" That Awaits "Women"??

"Facts" Can Be Stubborn Things!

Let's all try pulling our "heads out" for a few minutes and consider a few facts:

(1) Women; the world over, outlive men! Women born today can expect to live more than 100

years.

(2) Western Medicine, which has never been kind to women or non-white minorities (and, many white "minorities" in the past); is consolidating its power with large amounts of money and political clout.

(3) Thanks to politicians like "Tricky Dick", Hospitals entered the mix to "devour" the power of white doctors (think AMA); and Insurance Companies entered to "devour" hospitals, white doctors, and patients (those not white or "rich enough"). Obamacare is entering this picture after all of this time, to try and tamp down some of the most egregious outcomes of decades of the rampage of "Tricky Dick" and his healthcare schemes.

Fast-forward to this day. The baby-boom portion of our population is "retiring" at the rate of 10,000 or more per day. Women and minorities are among those who place lowest in financial conditions to "weather" what is happening in healthcare.

Long-story-short; women below the age of 65 today are most at risk of long-term existence in "assisted living". that will vary in the amount of "assistance" in accordance with your ability to "pay". Too many women, and most families remain "blissfully" impervious to these facts. Younger women must take heed and prepare as early as their 30's!

Stay Vigilant! If you're a woman, or young female, or have one in your family; stop the Republicans from continuing to foment this horrible future for all of us!

Copyright © 2014: Williams LLC
All Rights Reserved: Williams LLC

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

BOEHNER "CAVE'S" ??

A "Christie-Effect" ??

The First Black President of the United States finally "grows" into the job; after five years of attack from some of the most vicious racists on this side of the planet. News from Switzerland shows that the other side of our planet, where color-based politics and economics was invented, shows that the EU is coming under pressure of collapse due to the same sick tendencies of people who are most proud of being "white" and having the power and privileges that condition has historically presented to them. Rumblings in Brazil may indicate that the non-whites in that country are finally finding their voice and getting up off of their knees. This can be a blessing in disguise, if those members of our species who are most proud of their white skin are finally deciding to join the "human" race.

Religions, which have been the incubators of this sickness plaguing the planet in places like Syria, Israel, and India-Pakistan should take a cue from this change, and relieve the planet of the pressures that have caused the "Terrorism" plague that emerged in the 1990s. All Power to "Pope-Too"??

There's no news of what will ultimately happen to the deposed "Nazi-Pope".

A direct line can be drawn connecting "scientific racism", known as Eugenics, and the Nazi Holocaust. The role of "Medicine" in this sordid history, is also under-reported and poorly-understood. It is timely that the practice of medicine is starting to come out of the Dark Ages and eliminate its historic discrimination against patients, and care providers, who don't have white skin. In my nearly 75 years, I have known many people who have died prematurely due to this history of with-holding services and care to persons who are non-white. The numbers of sufferers are staggering. Dr. Charles Drew, inventor of blood plasma http://www.blackinventor.com/pages/charles-drew.html was one of the best known cases.

White Americans (in ALL of the Americas) must accept the costs of their clinging to white-skin privileges. Just think of the talents and economic wealth that can become available to us all when "whites" take their collective "foot" off the throats of non-whites.

Stay Vigilant! A new "Golden Age" for all could be just around the corner. Vote against all Republicans!!

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

"BUSH-WHACKED" ??

A "Final Pass" at our Democracy"??

If you listen closely to "Morning Joe" these days (a substitute for "Imus in the Morning"?); you'll hear two important messages: (1) Christie is "History"; and (2) Bring in Jeb Bush. "Mama Bush" clearly wants no such thing; but she's probably too far gone to matter much to anyone these days.

Think about it: "Hermanos-Bush", thus far, have perfected looting FEMA for political funds (courtesy of Florida and its hurricanes); have moved that technique to Louisiana and Katrina; Perfected the "falsification" of the 2000 election (robbing "Sandra" from her rightful place in history in Bush v. Gore); and have participated in the 9/11 - Twin Towers fiasco. Along the way they hooked up with Giuliani; first "out-front" protector of Christie and his "Bridge-Gate" (now back-pedaling?). All goes to show that Christie is no Jeb??

We all now have to do our homework on the Port Authority and its powers; in both New York and New Jersey politics. Does the fact that it concentrates so much money and political power from both states, including the very rich, New York City, augur toward much higher involvement by the Republican Party? Was Giuliani trying to stem the bleeding in his early venture "out front"? Inquiring minds must dig out answers. Does this pyramid of stench reach much higher than its SouthernTea Party, Northern Urban Machine, and Inter-mountain West bases?

Think about it! No other explanation can make sense of the horrible events we have all experienced leading up the collapse of our economy in 2008; under the careful "government" of the Republicans.
They have morphed into the DO's who Do Nothing BUT provide a consistently Disloyal Opposition to the Democracy of this nation and to its founding principles.

Now they figure we're too stupid to prevent them from coming back into power in 2014 and 2016 to "finish us off"??

Stay Vigilant! It's really NOT about Obama, or Obamacare! Pull your heads "out"??

Monday, February 10, 2014

"MARKETING" ;"Race and Class" ; & SLAVERY??

Domestic and/(also?) International??

One of the ways our current economic and social plights might be viewed is: in terms of conflicts across borders, versus conflicts within borders. With the current struggles within our Federal Government; (conflicts between the legislative, judicial, executive branches), we lose sight of parallels extant, both across borders, and deeper within our borders.

P.O.V., (Point of View), is a show aired on local PBS. You can Google (PBS.org). Last night's airing of a decade-or-more study of two black boys in Brooklyn, NY, and their struggles with private school education; racial "integration" within that setting; and the losing battles fought by those minority children, their parents, and their communities.

"Marketing" which is becoming the Pac-Man devouring our Media, our economics, and our lives, is something we lose sight of; and the egregious impact it has on every aspect of our daily living. We are "marketed" ideas that determine how much, or how little, time we have in our daily lives. We are then "coerced" through the "marketing" process to accept many conditions we would clearly not otherwise accept, given free choices. BE AWARE; although much of this is clearly "racial" as we have known it in the past; it is rapidly sweeping in CLASS; and is rapidly re-ordering our politics and our lives.

We lose sight of the COERCION inherent in this new approach to "marketing"; thereby, silently and unwittingly accepting conditions that herd us ALL toward slavery to Big Money, Big Data, and the power of Large Corporations and Financial Markets. Through the lens of the current "marketing" approach to existence, we can see why large issues like HEALTH CARE, EDUCATION, POLITICS, EMPLOYMENT, and FINANCIAL HEALTH, are all important issues where we're losing what little control we use to have. WHY??

Peter Drucker explained to us in the 1980's the key differences between MARKETING and SELING.
Ours is a nation based on SELLING; from the days of Slavery and the "Snake-Oil" Salesmen in Covered Wagons on the Trail West. MARKETING is a creature of the Industrial Age. It is constantly being adapted to the MEDIA age.

Marketing is an outcomes solution sought by starting with the customer, and a focus on actions to achieve the customer's desired outcome. Selling, in contrast, is an outcomes solution sought by starting with a pre-prepared product or service, or process, and a focus on actions to achieve the salesman's desired outcome. We are left to assume, in the case of selling, that the outcomes are also those of the customer!! They rarely are!!

Two examples: Politicians would have you believe they are public servants. We know they really are people who are dependent upon raising money from donors who have specific interests. They are really salespersons! Minorities who seek "integration" for "assimilation" with whites and/or wealthier people who are also white, are left to assume that they can succeed, even when they know the whites have no incentive to fundamentally change their ways. The self-deception woven into these "marketing" or "sales" processes have proven to be disastrous for many minorities and/or immigrants who "drink the Kool-Aid" and wonder why they never reach their goals. Welcome to the Circus of 2014. All cylinders are being cranked up by the Marketeering Rich as we approach the off-year election of 2014!

Stay Vigilant! Your Democracy and the Safety and Security of your Family are on the line! See if you can spot the International Parallels.

Copyright © 2014: Williams LLC
All Rights Reserved: Williams LLC

Sunday, February 9, 2014

"Where's the WHITE Guy??"

Exactly!!

In 2006, my Consulting Company gave a briefing to a Vice President of a major Bank regarding an approach to developing Entrepreneurialism among historically underrepresented groups within our citizenry.

I was assisted by a young H-1B from Mexico that I hired. Mid-way of our "pitch", the bank executive interrupted with the question: "Where's the White Guy?" Assuming his vision was not impaired, I asked for clarification of his question. His response was, essentially, that his bank would not deal with any company that did not include a "white guy" in its leadership. Needless to say, that Bank continues its historic practice of shutting out entrepreneurial innovations that do not have white males in a "lead" position.

I was quite aware of the history that I had lived in this country, and many obstacles faced by minority business persons; but I was startled at the bluntness of his outburst. This country was created by our founders to provide permanent advantages to all persons who were European (commonly considered to be "white"), male, and with "means" or wealth. After the Civil War, the original, WASP founder class disappeared; to be replaced today by current "Overseer" whites who dominate our government and economy It has been my experience that these whites operate under, what a young technology worker described as, a policy of: "what they can't control, they must destroy!" This posture was prevalent within research laboratories; both within government and within private industry R&D organizations. Early in the last decade, many of our best and brightest technologists abandoned R&D to "get rich quick" in finance. Their skills at creating advanced computing tools were key. Over the hundreds of years since our founding, these attitudes and practices have infiltrated virtually every level of our social and economic fabric. It has become a belief system. All talent not "fitting" their template will be shut out, stolen from, or "encouraged" to allow white males to take credit for their innovations.;

Over that time, those groups on this planet who do not belong either to Native Peoples in the Americas, or the Africans brought to this side of our planet as slaves, are increasingly finding ways to benefit secondarily from those founding "benefits" originally reserved for white males; Asians (especially from India, to include those who became Pakistani); some Africans; and Hispano/Latinos, are becoming more prominent as they fill the "space" between white and black. I noticed this phenomenon forty years ago when the Defense Department "set aside" a percentage of defense contracts to permit historically disadvantaged groups a chance to compete. The "invasion" from India began at that point and has grown to its present predominance in Silicon Valley and within key Corporations. Backed by the GOP, as converted at that time by President Nixon, Hispano/Latinos are courted; so long as they are not "from Mexico".

The performance of Congress since the GOP re-gained access in 2010, embodies this policy "on steroids". Weakening or destroying the nation's economy is a tactic they openly use, as they re-design their strategies to retain white male power positions. Two facts have emerged since 2008: Big Money no longer displays its historic interest in creating jobs; and anyone reaching for political or economic power, who is not white and male, will be viciously attacked and thwarted, with the intent of denying them any success.

Stay Vigilant! As our economy shrinks, this "issue" emerges as a key policy issue harming everyone!

Saturday, February 1, 2014

"PEARL HARBOR" POLITICS??

The Emerging "Shadow" White Government?

Could the Governor Christie "Jersey-Bridge Affair" foreshadow the rise of a new "shadow" white government in this country? Could it be that, as the remnants of the old "shadow" white government of the Jim Crow South continues to wane, the Northern, Poor White, "Ethnic" phenomenon, that came to these shores along with the boatloads of poor whites from Europe following the War of 1812, is coming "into it's own"? We still have Graham, McConnell, 'flip-flop' McCain, Rand Paul; and the "wanna-be" Cubans on our political scene; but they are Tea Party Remnants of the old race-baiting Jim Crow South. That element is rapidly spreading its religion, hate, and poverty to the Inter-Mountain West.

1968, and "Chicago" and "Mayor Daly" were indicative of quite another strain of poor white politics in our country. The Urban Ward-Healers who derived from the Ethnic Gangs of our Northern cities.

These were the same poor whites who died fighting for the North against the "Rebs" in the Civil War. The Draft Riots of that day showed that these whites were no friends of Blacks (or any other non-whites, for that matter).

Their brand of politics depended on "loyalty" from their "kin, and kind" -- a form of "Gang" Politics, if you will. Remember; Martin Luther King led one of his famous marches into the Chicago strong-holds of white ethnics. Its ironic that the first black President for this country came from that same setting.

My Dad told me stories of the 1930's when the "heat" was on in Chicago and the "Mob" came through our home town on their way to their "hide-out" in Kansas City. He said you could hear the 'tommy-guns' rattling all over town as they performed their "rub-outs". The local sheriff "went fishing", of course. In those days, the Ku Klux Klan was the real "shadow government" of this country; installed by an arch-racist, President Woodrow Wilson.

I met a number of these ethnic citizens, as fellow officers during my time in the military. The more intelligent among them would ask me why Blacks, Native Americans, and Hispanics did not copy "their" people, and build political and economic strength based on their Parish or Ward models. My answer was that some Blacks did form alliances with them. I saw it in my home town; but those Blacks got wealthy as "individuals", not as leaders of a community. They served to "deliver" money, connections, or other things of value sought from the black community. Today, this practice is known as "gentrification" (think Detroit?)

I also noticed that ethnics carried this practice for "getting ahead" into the military. They took care of their own, discriminated against everyone else, and demanded fierce "loyalty" from those they included in their groups. The weaker members of their groups knew that they served roles as "throw-aways" when the "heat" was on for illegal dealings. The weaker ones protected themselves by keeping "Pearl Harbor Files".

Stay Vigilant! We're all about to see how these power-brokers deal "justice"; both inside and outside of their "groups".