Last week we looked at the conservative plan to undermine and then privatize the V.A. This morning, the good government non-profit, In The Public Interest, is releasing a new report, Race to the Bottom: How Outsourcing Public Services Rewards Corporations and Punishes the Middle Class.This isn't the message the Maria Bartiromos of the world-- nor any oth
For decades social critics have bemoaned the influence of sports and entertainment spectacles in ‘distracting’ workers from struggling for their class interests. According to these analysts, ‘class consciousness’ was replaced by ‘mass’ consciousness. They argued that atomized individuals, manipulated by the mass media, were converted into passive consumers who identified with millionaire sports heroes, soap opera protagonists and film celebrities.
Predators on the right sense an opportunity. Reactionary sociopath and Tea Party icon Ben Carson is calling the V.A. disaster a gift from God.
Think about the last time you reached the top of a mountain one mile high. Now think about descending that distance below the surface of the earth, foot by dark foot, far below all life, light or oxygen. You go down there to dig.
What you’re digging for, deep in the hot, fetid bowels of the earth is carbonized life forms, millions of years in the making, turned to a type of rock that ignites and burns; one that your prime minister and energy analysts tell you will help the economic future of your country.
Reading the words of Felicity Arbuthnot and the culture of murder by decree, by political affirmation, through the international bodies of the dead, the UN, the leaders who eat babies at birth, with the flick of a pen, and with the stealth of billion-dollar bombers, or the guided propaganda or hand-to-hand instruction of the School of Murder, Inc., and she puts it right in the bullseye of a warped world of sick awards and accolades.
bad Jews acting badly; education’s leaders a la Walmart; culture bought and paid for by whitey
In early March of 2014, following Russia’s invasion of Crimea in Ukraine, the New York Times editorial board declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “stepped far outside the bounds of civilized behavior,” suggesting that Russia should be isolated politically and economically in the face of “continued aggression.”
It is a sea change, the kind of transformation that the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter said was caused by “gales of creative destruction.” In his model, systems change when new ideas, products, and technologies bring about the destruction of the old.
Edward Snowden’s revelations on the voracious appetite of spying on all and sundry by the National Security Agency and allied agencies should not give pause for too much comment, other than to affirm a general premise: activists and non-government groups are to be feared. Non-profits are seen as potential threats, though what to is sometimes unclear. Any government worth its salt should be afraid of its citizens – the latter must make the former accountable; the former must hold to the contractual bargain with citizens.
Who runs your workplace?
For most of us the answer is a boss, who reports to a higher boss, who reports to an even higher boss, who reports to a … all the way up to the “owner” of the enterprise. This is called a chain of command.
The words “chain” and “command” are both suggestive of a fundamental truth: Today’s rules about the power of bosses and workers evolved from a time of masters, servants and slaves. While many norms and expectations have changed over the years the fundamental truth that bosses give orders and workers are required to obey remains the same.
