Sunday mornings

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Sunday mornings...reading the Sunday newspaper, watching the TV news magazines...working in the garden...ah...the small pleasures of life are always found in the minute to minute details. As John Lennon penned..."life is what happens when you're busy making plans"...

My school semester is nearing it's end...the first I've completed in some odd 20 years. I must say, the academic wolrd is one I have missed and can envision myself staying active in academia for some time to come.

Life...digested in minutia or in large chunks...each has its place in a well balanced existence.

Sundays are also good days to find a few moments of solitude...just accessing that quiet space is part of a good regimen for recharging, like REM sleep stages.

trickster108

Rambling

Saturday, April 29, 2006

I'm sitting here at my computer, wondering what I would like to write. Yesterday, I had the briefest inspiration to write a piece of autobiographical fiction...about magic and transformation. I have always been entranced, enthralled, mystified and delighted by the elements of the fantastic. That feeling you get...first times when you are a child...and you just feel surrounded by "stuff" that you know is just far greater than you..."stuff" that somehow awes and captivates, that makes you feel like that moment could last forever and that it was imbued with magical overtones. We lose those abilities and those moments as we grow older...more demands from the "real" world, more pressures, responsibilities, things that dampen our intuition, sever our other psychic abilities and give way to cerebration and ratiocination.

But...I find from time to time, that those moments pop up...reading a special book, seeing a special movie, meeting a special person...and...we are 8 years old all over again.

I have found that interest in those moments has been a theme in my life, whether I cognitively knew it or not. I have sought out opportunities to experience those chills that go up and down my spine. Sometimes all it took was a good horror novel, but I have found that any milieu that lends itself to what Eliade called the experience of the sacred was sufficient to send me into reverie...I refrain from using the word "rapture" because of the strong fundamentalist overtones...but...suffice it to say that I DO seek rapture...the mystical union with the Great Spirit.

Perhaps that is what drove me to abandon medicine and pursue philosophy and religion. Perhaps that was my ticket into the world of drugs and psychedelia. And...perhaps that was the raison d'etre for what my life has come to be.

And...to continue...I also believe that this need for wonder, magic and the mystical presaged the self discovery of my being transgender. There has always been something very shaman-like about being transgender. Many native americans call it "two-spirits" and they are a bridge between worlds. ( I would like to write more about this topic later...)

Just as I feel drawn to experiencing the sacred in the midst of the mundane.

So...maybe I WILL go ahead and write that piece of autobiographical fiction and try to continue the pursuit of those paths to self discovery and awakening!!

trickster108

Financial Meanderings

Thursday, April 27, 2006

I finished Kevin Phillips' book, "American Theocracy", last night and, again, a lot of the finan-o-speak is unintelligible to me.

But...I was able to understand Mr. Phillip's ideas about the declines of three other western financial empires and how they compared to the predicament the U.S. finds itself in. Those three were 16th century Spanish, 17th century Dutch and early 20th century British.

Spain, upon plundering the "New World", found itself deluged with bullion and the growth of financial institutions and the demise of manufacturing and agriculture bloated the Castillian government, invited extensive foreign investment within Spain, and eventually the lack of ownership in tangible goods brought about the demise of the Spanish empire.

With respect to both the Dutch and the British, the factors were a decline in the specific method of production...in the case of the Dutch, the advent of the industrial revolution brought about the decline in the efficacy and efficiency of water and wind based energy (windmills and water wheels) and, in the case of the British, the advent of the petroleum age and their hesitation in exploiting the Middle East oil fields when they had the early opportunity, brought the demise of coal based energy production.

Both of these case studies had the concommitant features of the unchecked growth of financial institutions and helped to end the hegemony of both of these "empires".

After the British decline, it was the U.S. dollar that came to rule along with early and extensive oil exploration and development. In out situation, unlike the British and the Dutch, we have not been supplanted because of a new energy source that some other nation has developed, but because of the shrinking oil reserves and the increased competition for demand world wide. That, coupled with the radical decline in the U.S. manufacturing base and the rampant and extensive financialization and outsourcing of both manufacturing and technical labor forces in the effort to "maximize profits" for shareholders, has seriously jeopardized U.S. hegemony. It should be noted that those increased profits do NOT trickle down...they stay with that elite, upper crust 10%-15% of established wealth and the net result is that the middle class is left holding an empty bag...no job, no savings, huge credit card debt. the jobs that are available are all service and, for the most part, are minimum wage or close to minimum and that, my friends, puts anyone making those kinds of wages well below the poverty line.

The answers??

Well...obvious, at least to me, is to cut corporate executive salaries, for starters. When we learn that the retiring oil execs get a mutimillion dollar pension, yet neither GM nor IBM can afford to pay pensions for which they are already obligated, when we know our elected officials slide comfortably into well paying lobbying jobs upon either retiring or getting voted out, when we continually and insistently give oil companies huge subsidies and tax credits...well...easy to see why the wealth remains within that 15% slice of the pie.

All in all...it is a class war, yet everyine will be forced to pay the piper, sooner or later, and the laws of karma (climatological, for example) will affect everyone, whether rich or poor.

The financial world

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Okay...I will admit it...I am virtually ignorant regarding the world of high finance and economic theory...of Laffer curves and trickle down theory, of how we can NOT be on the gold standard.
I have been rerading the last part of Phillips' "American Thoeocracy" and am completely confounded.

Silly me...I guess I cannot understand how it is NOT obvious that there is "x" amount of wealth in the world and that the more one person or country owns, the less another person or country has. It seems obvious to me that the administration's claims that the economy is much better are based on faulty assumptions and statistics...that they completely ignore where the wealth lies and why so many Americans do NOT consider their personal financial situations to have appreciably improved.

The theory of wealth thru debt also confounds me. I was taught that the road to financial security was thru saving, not deficit spending (not that this girl has saved a penny!!).

One thing I can intuit, however...when financial empires are built on the exchange of wealth and not on the actual creation of goods...be they grown or manufactured...that financial empire is a deck of cards waiting to collapse. That is exactly the nature of finance and the stock market in this country. That wealth is on paper and can evaporate in a New York minute!! In my humble opinion, those folks fleecing the public through financial shenanigans are nothing more than modern day con men.

Another scam...the insurance racket. The premise is totally convoluted. You are betting that something WILL go wrong..that is the only way for the bet to pay out...so...these scammers are playing upon our fears because we have no sense of community and if our neighbor goes down...well...tough...it was about time they learned the lesson that life is not fair.

But...even worse...these insurance scammers threaten to drop coverage if you ever need to collect on your bet because tragedy has come to visit. Oh the nerve of these people...promising security (that is what they are in business to sell) lest the worst case scenario befall you and then either pulling the rug out from beneath you or jacking the rates so high that they become prohibitively expensive and unaffordable.

I seem to always find myself with the "doom forecaster's" hat on...but...there will come a day when out cavalier attitudes will come back to bite us unless we learn PDQ!!!

trickster108

Gardening

Monday, April 24, 2006

Here we are, just a couple of days after Earth Day...I had wanted to post about the joys of gardening and seeing things grow. Having a garden, in my opinion, helps keep one in touch with Mother Earth. The wonder of seeing seeds sprout, plants grow and mature is a miraculous process that never ceases to amaze and delight me!! The variety and diversity fills me with wonder and always appeals to my sensitivity to color and form.

My garden helps my macrocosmic/microcosmic perspective. I can see processes at work in my garden, my body and the universe...and...they all seem to have some kind of similarity and symmetry. The adage...as it is above..so it is below...takes on such poignant significance if one ponders the infinite wonders of birth, death, decay and resurrection and sees them at work on a myriad of levels.

I ask myself...will generations to come be able to enjoy these phenomena?? Will plants still grow in the world we are bequeathing to generations 100 years or more removed from us?? Or will our stubborn dependence on fossil fuels, our gluttony and self absorption, our addicition to "stuff", the new opiate of the masses, preclude those generations from even existing 100 years hence??

As with everything...it's a mind set..and will require a departure from the old (current) way of looking at life and the world in favor of adopting a less myopic world view in which egocentrism no longer rules.

Listen to Jackson Browne's "After the Deluge" for a clue to what may be in store for us and our world if we do NOT listen and do NOT pay attention.

Ask your government why it has stifled the scientific community from disseminating the truth, why this administration allows non-scientist bureaucrats to edit scientific reports and why it lives in climatological and scientific denial. At the same time, you might ask yourself if there is a connection between our dependence upon fossil fuels and our leaders' being heavily invested in energy and finance.

trickster108

American Theocracy

Sunday, April 23, 2006

I have almost finished Kevin Phillips' book "American Theocracy" and, as a follow up to my comments about patriarchy, this tome aptly defines the 21st century understanding of Evangelism, fundamentalism and reconstructionism as having a distinct patriarchal underpinning. This understanding, of course, is based on the literal interpreation of the Bible wherein women are relegated to obey and serve men. So, in today's world, they are discouraged from becoming ministers, from aspiring to equality in the workplace, from being in charge of their own bodies and, were it up to those reconstructionists, would be returned to their "rightful places"...namely, the kitchen and the bedroom.

Upon reading Phillips' book, I learned a number of other factoids. One...that, prior to the invasion of Iraq, Pres. Bush was reading a tract by an Evangelistic Scottish preacher who had strong millenial leanings and whose eschatology was dominated by the idea of christ's return to earth. There has been such an enoromus parallel between the Bush mind-set and that portrayed by the "Left Behind" books...so much that it is hard not to become convinced that the "Left Behind" concept has been deterministic in the development of the Bush understanding of the U.S. vis a vis Iraq, Israel and the rest of the Middle East.

I also learned that former attorney general John Ashcroft was the son and grandson of radically fundamentalist preachers and that, upon being elected to Congress and upon his appointment as Atty General, this man acutally had himself annointed, ala biblical kings, with oil!!

This is just too scary!!!

I recommend Kevin Phillips book to anyone who would like a more intense glimpse into the voice behind the curtain, a voice that is now seeing the light of day and which represents the views of more Americans than we might have ever suspected. The numbers who truly believe in the literal reading of the bible and who also truly believe in the Rapture, in dispensations, that the earth is here to be plundered, that they and only they will be saved, is staggering to say the least!!

trickster108

Patriarchy, part 3

Friday, April 21, 2006

The seeds of patriarchy had been planted, the execution was flawlessly developed and maintained, the Church and western civilization had bought and swallowed the plan hook, line and sinker. Today, we can see it's expression in the need to clearly define things...we don't like uncertainty. We see it in the binary role that has been manifested by fundamentalist and patriarchal thinking...the usual dichotomies...good versus evil, right versus wrong, rich versus poor. And, of course, our understandings of gender and sexuality. Women still have a lesser role in society...they are paid lower wages, matters concerning THEIR bodies are decided by male doctors, laws are written mainly by male legislators and litigated primarily by male attorneys. Their lives are dominated by laws executed primarily by male elected officials and adjudicated primarily by male judges. Of course, their are token women, but they are just that...underpaid and not given serious consideration for the most part, because tey are "just women".

The dichotomy rears its ugly head in the gender wars. If you are not "straight", as defined by a literal interpretation of the Bible, you are a deviant. You might as well be a murderer, rapist or drug dealer, because you have been written out of the right to participate. Your lives have been marginalized because you do not fit the binary model...the either/or methodology of determining if you are "on the bus or off the bus". Their are no continuums in the binary model, just that ever present either /or. There are no shades of grey in ther binary world, just white and black.

This patriarchal and dualistic approach lends itself most perfectly to the establishment of elitist groups. Again...you are either "on the bus or off the bus", either a sinner or have been saved, either accept the precepts as the moral majority dictates or deserve to be written out of society.

It is similar to the leper colonies and to the days of "ships of fools". Take everyone who does not conform, who does not "fit in" neatly...any round pegs in square holes or square pegs in round holes...round' em up and ship 'em out. We don't want them in our neat and orderly binary system. We do not UNDERSTAND them. Therefore, they pose a threat, because, in the binary and patriarchal system, anything which is indefinite and undefined , which defies categorization, is suspect and represents potential harm to the well oiled machinery of dichotomistic thinking.

Of course...we fear what we do not understand, so the syllogism becomes clear. Indefinability breeds lack of understanding...lack of understanding breeds fear, fear breeds elitism and hatred.
Ergo...indefinability breeds elitism and hatred. Just look around the world. We do not understand the Muslim world, we cannot define their values...we fear them and thus we hate them. Forget that the terrorists comprise an infinitesimally small percent of Muslims.

And...in this fundamentalist, literal Bible believing, judgement passing, binary country we now live in...well...there is certainly concern for the future.

It is interesting that the confluence of events seems to be approaching...the day we acknowledge that there is not enough oil to power the world, the day population growth reaches critical mass, the day that the environment reaches a level of pollution SO BAD that mother earth fights back (the effects of global warming), the day nuclear armanment becomes available throughout the world, the day fundamentalists believe the second coming will occur, the day marking the end of the Mayan calendar...all of these events are conspiring to occur within the next decade.

We are at a cusp...astologers know this is the end of the Piscean age and the beginning of the Aquarian age. It has been compared to the travail a woman undergoes during labor and childbirth. The analogy is apt, because we are about to experience a new astrological birth. but...it could go either way...the baby could survive to become strong and vibrant, or it could be stillborn. Such is the variable nature or Aquarius. It can signify the enlightened age of personal responsiblity, or it can represent a fixed and elitist world where humanity has not kept up with technology and which plants the seeds of its own demise.

All this can be seen as the results of seeds planted by the patriarchal world, and these seeds may be ready to bear their fruit.

It is NOT TO LATE!!

We can make a difference, by embracing the wonder of individuality, the miracle of diversity, the beauty of accepting alien and different ideas, cultures and understandings. the world manifests itself through multitudinous diversity, not through the binary. There are more than just two flowers, two birds, two fish, two ways of being inthe world. There is more to life than "on the bus or off the bus". It requires opening oneself to the appreciation of the 'many", not the deification of the binary.

But...first we must abandon the patriarchal, binary, dichotimisic model and adopt more tolerant, non judgemental, non elitist modes of thinking.

The choice, as they say, is up to us...

trickster108

Patriarchy Part 2

Thursday, April 20, 2006

To those who celebrate...( I no longer do)

Happy 4/20!!


To resume my thoughts on patriarchy...

The establishment of hierarchical religious institutions marked what may be considered the codification of a male dominated society. The influence was marked primariliy because of the role religion played as a central and dominant theme in societies at large. As religious institutions grew, so did the perceived need to control...and that meant its becoming inextricably interwoven with the social and political fabric so that its reach was, to say the least, extensive. All social functions found themselves under the aegis of the Church which basically implied birth, marriage and death, and every thing in between, including initiatory coming of age celebrations and other specifically religiously oriented rites, eg Baptism, communion, confirmation, etc.

And, perhaps more insidiously, this control infiltrated political structures so as to maintain the Church's preeminence in all areas of life. The mindset that assumed priority for men and suborination for women became, essentially, institutionalized. We can see it from the very beginnings of the Christian era with the disenfranchisement of women disciples in favor of the dominant male disciples. Even though it is evident that Mary Magdalene played a primary role in the mystery of the resurrection, she is relegated to such a minor role that one must wonder at the strength the revisionists had and the power they wielded to completely redact and alter the course of history.

In fact, the church is responsible for entirely redacting religious history, in general. Even though many Christian rites and celebratory days were borrowed from "pagan" sources, the fact that those sources had a significant feminine element was purposely ignored and omitted. Obviously, they felt that any feminine influences or remnants would obviate their mission which was to sustain hierarchical elitism by men at the expense of women.

Even in the old testament, women who were menstruating were considered to be dirty or, as most commonly written, to be "unclean". This denigration evolved to the point where women were so devalued that midwives were considered to be witches and were summarily murdered by one means or another.

The role assigned to women became purely domestic...care for the home, and the bearing and raising of the children until they reached a specific age, at which time the education of the male children became a prime patriarchal pursuit. Of course...the reasoning is obvious...to sustain the male domination mindset one must indoctrinate the next generation so as to insure a smooth transitional control.

to be continued...

trickster108

Patriarchy

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

I have briefly mentioned the issue of patriarchy and want to elaborate. As nomadic peoples in the late paleolithic finally started to remain in one place, agriculture was first develped, and, concommitant with a stable and non-migrating population, and the advances of cultivation, we began to see the first seeds of hierarchical religion. Prior to that, as is the case with most nomadic peoples, spirituality was vested in shamanic institutions, was often passed on from one generation to the next familially, and never achieved nor looked to achieve the status of an organized and cohesive hierarchical system.

The spiritual focus of many of these wandering groups was patriarchal, and, of many others, matriarchal. In the earliest years of development of agriculture, the matriarchal model predominated, as seen in Ceres and Demeter cults. The overwhelming similarity amongst these agrarian, matrilineal societies was the mystery of the cyclical planting and harvesting of crops, which took the form, analogously, of the feminine mystery of childbirth. Women became the archetypical paradigm which tranlated into successful sowing, raising and harvesting of food, vital to the survival of the local population.

This model fits mostly for terrain that was suitable for an agrarian lifestyle. It seems evident that, in the near East, where nomadic tribes continued to predominate, the lay of the land was not conducive to cultivation. The need for water drove the population from one water-rich spot to another, and the raising and domestication of livestock predominated as opposed to the agrarian model. These Near East nomads were, for the most part, organized along patriarchal bloodlines, the leadership roles being passed on from father to son. Even in the earliest Biblical tracts...we see references to "Abraham, Isaac and Jacob"...clearly a patrilineal passing of authority and control from one man to another.

Because so much of the early Judaeo-Christian-Muslim tradition has its roots in this patriarchal mode of authority and control, we see this same male institutionalizing of domination evident in nearly all Western religions and culture. Even with these nomadic communities, there eventually was seen to evolve permanent communities...first villages, then towns, and finally cities...and...these culturally male oriented civilizations began to create permanent hierarchical religious institutions that not only catered to the local population but, to insure their OWN survival, developed authoritarian methodologies to keep and maintain and grow the powerful controlling relationship they enjoyed over the population at large.

to be continued...

trickster108

Know Nothing!!

Monday, April 17, 2006

Every day I am reminded of how little I really know and, conversely, how much there still remains for me to learn... and, as if often the case with me...to "relearn". It is amazing how, for beings that only use 10% of their brain capacity, we can be so consistently forgetful, both with respect to our short term memories and with our greater repository of "knowledge". We surmise that there ARE ways to enhance our mental abilities. Certainly, paranormal abilities must involve a greater and more intense sense of brain usage.

I must continue to remind myself that daily exercise of the brain is as important as a good caridovascular workout and probably contributes to any efforts at keeping all my faculties intact as I undergo this thing we call "the aging process"!!

Walking on Air

Sunday, april 16, 2006

I realized that each post I have made so far on this BLOG has been negative...and...I will not commit to NEVER having negative comments to make...just take a good look around and the need for criticism is self explanatory...a rather intuitive perception.

But...that is not the only perspective that my life can entertain or embrace...and...I always have had an intuitive appreciation of the myth of the Phoenix...out of the ashes...

I guess I just want to reaffirm my belief in the innate goodness and beauty of life, specifically, of MY life now that I have exorcised my demons and have left the life of denial in the dust.
I had always strived for some degree of authenticity in my life and until I had come clean, I was just another hypocrite at the mercy of societal judgement, caught in the vicissitudes of an ethos which is inherently empty and meaningless, but which wielded some kind of invisible but tangible influence or control upon my consciousness and my subconscious as well.

It's just an indication of how strong binary gender's control is, and how much effort it takes to throw those shackles aside and embrace one's true nature. I can honestly say that life sans chains is MUCH better. Slavery of any sort is demoralizing and I was certainly a slave to a value system that was detrimental to my good health.

And...it is a testament to the virtues of individuality...to finding what is unique or special within oneself and cultivating that "specialness".

Let it be said that this writer will never again allow herself to succomb to the whims of a value system that is exclusionary and delimiting. My path lies in moving forward, in learning, growing, affirming that spark of the divine that resides within each and every one of us.

It is just another one of those pesky but insightful paradoxes...we are, at one and the same time, both individuals and completely interconnected and entwined with the rest of creation!!

trickster108

Attention Deficit Democracy

Saturday, April 15, 2006

I just finished reading James Bovard's latest book..."Attention Deficit Democracy"...and...were it not due back at the library and were it renewable...I would want to reread this volume at least one more time. There is SO MUCH here to peruse...I will leave it up to the reader to get a copy and sit down and gain some illumination.

I will say that much of the premise falls right in line with MY way of thinking...QUESTION AUTHORITY...do not buy into the myths and lies that government is selling. It is our civic duty to THINK and we, the public at large in these United States of America, have allowed ourselves to fritter away any reponsibility we may have assumed previously. We have become a "baby sitter" nation...we want to be cared for, our every need catered to and we have made the concept of personal responsibility obsolete...who needs responsibility when it is assumed that everything government does is for our own good!!

For whatever it is worth...and this is something that bears further examination, this abrogation of civic responsibility is NOT what the founding fathers had in mind. One of the greatest impediments in ratifying the Constitution was a pervasive fear of government and the understanding that, left to its own devices, government would ALWAYS devolve to a self serving
fattening of the rich and powerful at the expense of everyone else.

Let it be mentioned that there was no "what the founding fathers had in mind" singular concept. this is a myth promulgated by those who conveniently call themselves strict constitutional constructionists when it is convenient. The understanding that they COULD rebel against the King George domination brought them together, but their inate fear of big government was evident in the contentiousness and devisiveness of the constitutional convention. It was a myriad of compromises that finally led to the Constitution as we know it today...and...before its ratification, and after its intial dissemination...it must be recalled that there was no "Bill of Rights" and that until one was drafted and included, there was very little chance of the Constitutition EVER being ratified.

Which brings me back to "Attentiion Deficit Democracy", in which Mr. Bolton shows us just how and where we have let those "Bill of Rights" rights be abridged, negated and apologised away. It is time we started demanding that we be protected FROM government rather than BY government because it is in government's VERY NATURE to abridge individual rights whenever and wherever possible.

trickster108

Religious Revisionism

Friday, April 14, 2006

It is my deepest wish, on this Good Friday which precedes Easter, that the Church will one day open its archives and undo the rampant revisionism of which it is guilty of having promulgated.

It is my other deepest wish that those who pursue their individual spiritual paths will learn the lessons of tolerance and non-judgment and will replace their hypocrisy and bigotry with love and inclusion.

I can only pray for the day when patriarchy no longer has the ability to wield its power and hold so many under its sway.

May the Great Spirit shine down upon you!!!

trickster108

Contemporary Music

Thursday, April14, 2006

Okay...I will admit it...I am a child of the '60's and have a distinct bias. That being said...the dearth of musical creativity these days is truly a cause for distress. Where are those musical pioneers who are reinventing, reshaping and revamping the art?? Is innovation in remission??


Credit where credit is due department:
Even though not an afficanado of RAP music, I DO appreciate its inherent originality and creativity. And...let it not be said that the current scene is totally barren because there is ample evidence to the contrary. But...compared to the prolific '60's...today's level of creativity is a veritable wasteland.

The degree to which music blazed trails, the incredible ability to develop something NEW and ORIGINAL...to really be at the cutting edge...these are just not evident in contemporary music and musicians.

I will say that a large part of this wasteland haa been engineered by the industry and that there ARE new and innovative musicians who are redefining the art...but...whether from payola or the indefatigible need to coopt, the music business has done its best to stifle anything that even remotely may be new and cutting edge and they substitute for this potential quality an endless slew of pap-like "create-a-star" pseudo icons who just feed the fires of the corporate drive for the almighty dollar.

Even though the industry was still there in the '60's...they had not gotten their claws into the scene to the extent that they were able to coopt the musicians or the scene. But...even some of those musical rebels have sold out to the corporate world in their acceptance of corporate sponsorships from beer companies, stock market investors, and a whole slew of anti-individuality, pro "dollar at the expense of everything" mentality corporations.

I guess I am just another nostaligia lovin', live for the past, old hippie refugee from the 60's. I have heard it said that this is surely a sign of old age and dementia...if so...I must plead guilty.
I can only hope that they will put us in old age and retirement homes that serenade us with those awesome classics that I still listen to. The Dead, Cream, Hendrix...I could make a pretty damn awesome playlist!! That way we can at least rock out as we rock on!!

trickster108

Immigration

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

I have been amazed, in reading and listening to all the immigration discussions, that one item that is rarely addressed is the impending creation of a caste system in the U.S. That both parties endorse the "jobs that U.S. citizens will not do" tack is clearly an endorsement of corporate power attempting to dilute wages. Their theory appears to be that they are beholding to their stockholders and are thereby obligated to cut costs any way they can in order to maximize profits.

This certainly seems, in their way of thinking, to benefit stockholders...but...I believe this to be debatable. Firstly...it is questionable how much of that labor savings goes to the bottom line and shows up in a dividend check. Secondly...even though the current administration crows that the economy is improving and on the upswing...that may only be the case for the upper 10-20%...and certainly does NOT trickle down to the ordinary middle or low middle class, forget about those living below the poverty line.

Thirdly...by continually outsourcing jobs, they have so undermined the economy that it is conceivable the stock market will be so articially sustained that the day may come when it collapses like a house built from cards.

It seems evident to me that all the efforts of NAFTA and other trade agreements have failed in that no attempts have been made to really bolster those third world economies...rather...those workers have been so exploited that they would prefer to emigrate as illegal workers to the U.S. and get paid sub-mimimum U.S. wages instead of remaining in their native countries and getting paid .50-$1.00 an hour.

And...this leads to the castification of America, the creation of a class of workers who will work for wages that fall far below poverty line levels and will STILL need to be subsidized by welfare just for survival.

Had we made a sincere effort to create sustaining economies in countries such as Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador, there would be less of an incentive to cross the border illegally. And...had American businesses and corporations decided to pay fair and competitive wages...there would be no such thing as "jobs U.S. citizens will not do"!!

trickster108

Executive power and trust

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Good morning

In the recent days and months, the development of the Lewis "Scooter" Libby case, along with revelations about NIE leaks from the president and vice president, should have all Americans up in arms. The first piece of evidence we should be hip to is the Bush claim that no one he knew in his administration had leaked information and were that found to be true...he would not only want to know and to establish an investigation, but that any such person would be fired. Now...we know that the authorization to leak came from the top. Just what exactly that might mean is unclear...should we expect Mr.Bush to fire himself and Mr. Cheyney??

It is also unclear as to whether and to what extent both Joe Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame have been victimized, but it seems reasonable that, considering the other leaks, Americans have the right to know abput the entire affair. This sentiment is echoed by Arlen Spector, Republican leader of the Senate Judiciary committee.

Our executive branch had surely attempted to stretch the limits of executive power, and this is evident with respect to the definition of torture, Patriot Act provisions thst suspend habeas corpus, and search and seizure safeguards, NSA spying on US citizens...the list goes on and on.

And...it should scare every american who cherishes his/her freedom.

The world as envisioned by the Neo cons is equally scary...it's manifest destiny all over again. And the world is not and will never be safe as long as policies are created to divide and conquer.

Will Iran be the next country we preemptorily invade??


Just one American's perspecive!!

Trickster108

Welcome

Welcome to Trickster108,

this is my first post of this brand new blog.

No subject is off limits...anything is open for debate!!

Briefly...I am a forever young flower child, professed and unabashed LIBERAL, perhaps RADICAL, Transgender activist in training.

This blog does NOT demand consistency...in fact, changes of mind as ideas are considered are emphatically encouraged. Growth, not stagnancy, is what I strive for.

I will try to keep this site active...and...any and all comments, thoughts, remarks, witticisms and any other kinds of contributions are heartily welcomed!!

Peace out...

trickster108