Sunday, December 24, 2017

THE LOW DOWN ON HIGHS

(Counter Punch.org)

"We can all laugh at the ridiculous claims of anti-drug warriors who scorned facts for scare tactics in their efforts to paint Marijuana as the “devil’s weed” over the last century. “Reefer Madness” has become a complete joke for good reason.

As a “good leftist,” I feel like I’m supposed to reject the anti-marijuana propaganda of the prohibitionists (no problem – done) but accept without qualification the claims of its proponents that use of the plant ranges from totally harmless to magnificently beneficial. That’s where I’m skeptical, in part from my own personal experiences with the plant over the last thirty years.

I am willing to believe that in earlier decades, marijuana’s potential for personal mind expansion and social radicalization was real. Many, many people thought so, including luminaries like Carl Sagan, who said: “The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.”

But Sagan died in 1996 and I think it’s reasonable to ask if it’s the same drug it was then."

Thursday, December 21, 2017


(Naked Capitalism.com)

"I never thought I’d be the target of an NPR attack piece. Through my twenties I even looked to NPR as an outlet full of good, progressive, thoughtful reporting – You know, the soothing voices occasionally interrupted by music no one really listens to but that sounds good between soft-spoken ivy league journalists over the age of 50.  Everything about NPR subtly reinforced the idea, “Everything is fine. You’re probably a middle to upper class white person or you hope to be one day, and that’s just great. Everything is fine.” They might not SAY that, but they say that. And for a long time, I was cool with that message.

Then I woke up."

Thursday, December 14, 2017

POWER TO THE PEOPLE, FOR A CHANGE

(Gabriel Rockhill at Counter Punch)

"Rather than blindly believing in a golden age of democracy in order to remain at all costs within the gilded cage of an ideology produced specifically for us by the well-paid spin-doctors of a plutocratic oligarchy, we should unlock the gates of history and meticulously scrutinize the founding and evolution of the American imperial republic."

Monday, December 11, 2017

THE PEASANTS ARE REVOLTING

What we need is a good old fashion peasant revolt, but the corporate zombie machine isn't feeding our brains, they're just keeping us off the street.

(Paul Street - Truthdig.com)

"Adding authoritarian insult to plutocratic injury, the Senate tax bill was rammed through the upper chamber with brutal speed and barely a speck of public input. As John Cassidy notes in The New Yorker, “the process … [has] … been a travesty of the legislative process. … [T]here have been no public hearings, and the measure is being rushed through in a few weeks, with virtually no transparency.”
MONEY TO BURN

(Truth-Out.org)

"The US economy is caught in a trap. That trap is the Department of Defense: an increasingly sticky wicket that relies on an annual, trillion-dollar redistribution of government-collected wealth. In fact, it's the biggest "big government" program on the planet, easily beating out China's People's Liberation Army in both size and cost. It is not only the "nation's largest employer," with 2.867 million people currently on the payroll, but it also provides government benefits to 2 million retirees and their family members. And it actively picks private sector winners by targeting billions of dollars to an elite group of profit-seeking contractors.

The top five overall recipients collectively pulled in $109.5 billion in FY2016, and their cohorts consistently dominate the government's list of top 100 contractors. They reap this yearly largesse through a Rube-Goldberg-like system of influence peddlers, revolving doors and wasteful taxpayer-funded boondoggles. Finally, it is all justified by a deadly feedback loop of perpetual warfare that is predicated on a predictable supply of blowback.

But this belligerent cash machine doesn't just produce haphazard interventions and shady partnerships with a motley assortment of strongmen, proxies and frenemies. It also has Uncle Sam caught in a strange cycle of taxpayer-funded dependence that may ultimately be the most expensive -- and least productive -- jobs program in human history."
RALPH NADER RADIO HOUR


"Ralph and Washington Post columnist, E.J. Dionne debate the distinction between “Progressive” and “Liberal,” and Original Nader’s Raider, Robert Fellmeth tells us why he thinks speech on the Internet should not be anonymous."

Friday, December 8, 2017

CUBAN MIS-SELL CRISIS

A wee bit of humor helps the shit go down.

(Redacted Tonight Dec 2, 2017 Show)

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

MOURNING BAG

"THESE are the times that try men's souls."
- Thomas Paine -

 I'm putting on my news blackout bag.

Keeping up with all the myriad daily atrocities is impossible and trying to keep up eventually becomes a downer.

Many of the links found on this page are to people fighting the good fight, sometimes by shining a light on the perpetrators of the atrocities that weigh down anyone of good conscience. Please check them out.

After a break I'll be ready to put on my Talking Bag again.

* * * * * *

(Ralph Nader Radio Hour)

Chris Hedges on the American Empire’s Descent Into Dystopia
(Truthdig.com Video)