So Friday SCOTUS nixed states' arbitrary restrictions on marriage, restoring civil rights owed to couples of like gender. And before day's end, the always sensational Rep. Steve King (R-Ia.) predictably argued that decision is oustside the court's purview, calling it "judicial fiat."
Apparently they're members of the Grand Old Party, conservatives & libertarians, except when those principles conflict with a certain world view.
You may remember '09 when the King scare machine reacted to Iowa's top-court ruling striking down this state's restriction on gay marriage, fearing that decision "turns immediately Iowa into a Mecca for same-sex marriage." He warned of "weekend [travel] packages being planned right now." And the fear language didn't stop there. "We'll be the Las Vegas of same-sex marriage for America if the legislature doesn't act now," King asserted. At the time he called on the Iowa Assembly and then-Governor Chet Culver (D-Ia.) to move quickly to require residency for marriage ... "right now, before the planes start landing in Des Moines," as if they might be loaded with WMD.
Video: Rep. Steve King with radio host Jan Mickelson, April, 2009
Let's be clear. A fundamental duty of the high court is to hold states' authority in check, protecting individuals' Constitutional protections from Gestapo-style government imposition where ever necessary.
Instead King, applying a bizarre sort of acrobatics to language and logic that even a 5-year-old can see through, today claims this country "cannot tolerate a Supreme Court that would impose their will on the rest of this country."
Striking down same-sex marriage bans in no way creates a restrictive imposition on others. Efforts by Congressman King, right-wing religious lobbyists like Bob Vander Plaats and pundits like Jan Mickelson to paint certain kinds of marriages as "weakening the institution" are absurd, and their attempts to moore their false logic in mythology can't mask their scalding bigotry. They can only point to religious symbolism in order to criticize Friday's ruling. Must we remind him there are no references to "holy matrimony" in the Constitution?
America is not a compendium of special clubs who get to use government as a tool to impose their wants on the "those people" whose behavior they despise. Being an American means a lot of different things to different people, but it can never mean you have a right not to be offended.
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Friday, September 12, 2014
Consensual and non-consensual police encounters
We've covered the levels of police encounters before and I don't like to spend too much time on covered ground, but I discovered a very nicely made instructional video with an excellent example of a non-consensual encounter without justification that quickly escalated to an arrest without any cause.
Friday, March 7, 2014
A promise broken
Located at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Woodland Avenue, Woodland Cemetery is an honored and revered resting place for the founders of our city and heroes of our nation.
The cemetery advisory board voted last night to strip the barrier between this revered site and vandals, the homeless, dog walkers.
There is simply no more historic place that is seeded so deeply the history of Polk County, aptly named for President James K. Polk. But among those interred at our cemetery is a different Polk. Jefferson Scott Polk (1831-1907) as a lawyer well educated, clear headed, deliberate, optimistic, positive, nervous, sanguine temperament, aggressive and plain of speech.
In 1859, J.S. Polk formed a partnership with Judge Casady and M.M. Crocker, making one of the strongest law firms in the district.
In 1861, when Mr. Crocker entered the military service, and the firm became Casady & Polk, which continued as such until 1864. At that time Casady retired and was succeeded by Fred M. Hubbell, as junior partner. For twenty-five years Polk & Hubbell thereafter became synonymous with push and enterprise in our town.
In 1867, Mr. Polk and others organized the Equitable Life Insurance Company. The following year, he was elected Secretary and held that office fourteen years.
In 1871, Mr. Polk organized the Des Moines Water Works Company.
August 29, 1866, Des Moines was finally treated to the iron horse with a line fully built from Keokuk along the Des Moines River, after a long and oft-fruitless battle to bring a rail line. On October 1st of that year, Mr. Polk, Fred M. Hubbell, Dr. M.P. Turner and U.B. White completed the first mile of street railway in the city as the Des Moines Street Railway Company. Now fully connected by rail, Des Moines enjoyed 38 daily rail connections and the beginnings of a world class mass transit system, thanks in no small measure to the work of Mr. Polk.
By 1888 Jefferson Polk procured a charter for the Rapid Transit Company, and in 1889 he purchased other competing Railways, and began installation of an entire new public transit system.
In 1874, he laid a narrow-gauge track to Ames, purchasing and laying out the town of Sheldahl.
Sources: Find A Grave/Katie Lou; History of Polk County, 1880
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Humanity at its finest
It's easy to find character flaws in people, so it's refreshing to find and share stories about selflessness and compassion. What may have begun as a self-serving exercise, this generous individual turned his personal misfortune into life changing tools for children.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Unfucking our educational system
The public has been brainwashed into thinking that voting for more money in a fucked up education system will somehow, magically, unfuck it.
School boards and administrators are politicians and operate in much the same way as the ones in the state assembly and in DC. They're wined & dined by organizations desperate to suck on the enormous teat of the taxpayers. Teachers are organized into packs whose mission is to benefit teachers, and in no way concern themselves with higher learning or figuring out a better way to impart wisdom for our future.
How can that model ever be anything but massively dysfunctional and corrupt?
I'm tired of hearing the big education thinkers using terms like "at grade level" when there's absolutely no evidence showing kids learn better while in lock-step with peers of the differing intellect. A child learns based on his or her own cognitive abilities and the learning resources available and it's intuitive that no two kids are alike. Therefore assigning a rigid grade level to a child is completely arbitrary.
The starve-or-struggle grade-level system insures no kid will learn on pace with his or her cognitive ability. One child will always complete a module early and find himself board, while another will always struggle to keep pace with the class and eventually give up. It makes no sense to try to force their instruction into the arbitrary constructs we have built and selected for them.
On the other hand, systems like Khan Academy [www.khanacademy.org] can facilitate learning at one's own pace. That's a conversation this country should have sooner rather than later.
Part of the problem is thinking in terms of centralized instruction (and food prep and authority) as opposed to more evenly and accessible distributed systems throughout the community. Distributed models in all domains inherently have less bureaucracy and tyranny, and therefore offer more individual accountability resulting in less waste and corruption. This is a topic that deserves note here, but far more discussion in public forums.
A major factor is that teachers are unavoidably flawed. They're notoriously inconsistent from day to day, year to year and among classrooms across the nation. That means there are no consistent quality standards to ensure all kids have access to the country's best possible instruction -- but they definitely deserve it.
As a community and as a state and as a nation we should be able to objectively and openly produce the best of the best instructional materials and presentations and lectures and put them to work for the students.
And another not-so-impermanent thing: information is free. Why are we wasting so much money on that which is free? In any other domain we'd be appalled by how much information is locked behind paywalls which are put in place for the sole purpose of revenue generation on the backs of the people.
It's hard to define what education is today. It's part political, part institution, part incarceration, part indoctrination and part corporation. Kids learn better how to be reliant on and subservient to the totalitarian class instead of discovering how to be free-minded explorers.
One day not that long ago we had an educational system that was at its core a means to provide kids with a schoolhouse and the best information available, and that resulted in world class thinkers and doers of the industrial age. They were not institutions and their purpose was not to generate revenue or political power, but simply to help kids develop into contributing, productive members of the community and go out in the world as free people and invent and build new things and enrich the lives of our neighbors.
Today, instead of giving the children the smartest mind in town, a world class education could mean giving them the smartest minds in the world from which to develop their new found wisdom and places in our collective society, to invent and build new things to improve the lives of our neighbors.
So before you vote one more time to throw more money at an educational system in hopes that will finally unfuck it, put to the schoolmasters how they intend to leverage a modern infrastructure and a bounty of information into a world class education for all children.
School boards and administrators are politicians and operate in much the same way as the ones in the state assembly and in DC. They're wined & dined by organizations desperate to suck on the enormous teat of the taxpayers. Teachers are organized into packs whose mission is to benefit teachers, and in no way concern themselves with higher learning or figuring out a better way to impart wisdom for our future.
How can that model ever be anything but massively dysfunctional and corrupt?
I'm tired of hearing the big education thinkers using terms like "at grade level" when there's absolutely no evidence showing kids learn better while in lock-step with peers of the differing intellect. A child learns based on his or her own cognitive abilities and the learning resources available and it's intuitive that no two kids are alike. Therefore assigning a rigid grade level to a child is completely arbitrary.
The starve-or-struggle grade-level system insures no kid will learn on pace with his or her cognitive ability. One child will always complete a module early and find himself board, while another will always struggle to keep pace with the class and eventually give up. It makes no sense to try to force their instruction into the arbitrary constructs we have built and selected for them.
On the other hand, systems like Khan Academy [www.khanacademy.org] can facilitate learning at one's own pace. That's a conversation this country should have sooner rather than later.
Part of the problem is thinking in terms of centralized instruction (and food prep and authority) as opposed to more evenly and accessible distributed systems throughout the community. Distributed models in all domains inherently have less bureaucracy and tyranny, and therefore offer more individual accountability resulting in less waste and corruption. This is a topic that deserves note here, but far more discussion in public forums.
A major factor is that teachers are unavoidably flawed. They're notoriously inconsistent from day to day, year to year and among classrooms across the nation. That means there are no consistent quality standards to ensure all kids have access to the country's best possible instruction -- but they definitely deserve it.
As a community and as a state and as a nation we should be able to objectively and openly produce the best of the best instructional materials and presentations and lectures and put them to work for the students.
And another not-so-impermanent thing: information is free. Why are we wasting so much money on that which is free? In any other domain we'd be appalled by how much information is locked behind paywalls which are put in place for the sole purpose of revenue generation on the backs of the people.
It's hard to define what education is today. It's part political, part institution, part incarceration, part indoctrination and part corporation. Kids learn better how to be reliant on and subservient to the totalitarian class instead of discovering how to be free-minded explorers.
One day not that long ago we had an educational system that was at its core a means to provide kids with a schoolhouse and the best information available, and that resulted in world class thinkers and doers of the industrial age. They were not institutions and their purpose was not to generate revenue or political power, but simply to help kids develop into contributing, productive members of the community and go out in the world as free people and invent and build new things and enrich the lives of our neighbors.
Today, instead of giving the children the smartest mind in town, a world class education could mean giving them the smartest minds in the world from which to develop their new found wisdom and places in our collective society, to invent and build new things to improve the lives of our neighbors.
So before you vote one more time to throw more money at an educational system in hopes that will finally unfuck it, put to the schoolmasters how they intend to leverage a modern infrastructure and a bounty of information into a world class education for all children.
Raising the Minimum Wage is a good start
The quick serve franchise model in this country is one of the problems. They are the bottom feeders in our society; parasites by any definition. They produce nothing, but permeate our thoroughfares to suckle the teats of neighborhoods. The brand names tend to squeeze regional operators to leverage profits from the fruits of their uber-low-wage workforce. There is so little profit margin for operators that it’s not feasible to own just one McDonald's restaurant, nor is it in their revenue interests to pay a living wage. Not to mention the fact that they sell notoriously unhealthy meals.
States and communities should begin putting their collective legislative feet down and facilitating some local requirements on absentee parasite corporations that tend to hurt communities as opposed to acting as responsible corporate citizens. There could be local ownership requirements in addition to an objective measurement of economic and commercial impact; the ratio of what a restaurant brings to a community versus what it removes. The ratio of revenue versus wages & taxes, for example.
But that's not the most fundamental issue in this society.
Let’s be clear. The so-called Republicans who purport to identify with conservatism are advancing policies that help corporate interests amass or export the wealth of this country, leaving the rest of us with fewer greenbacks – of diminishing value – after ever-expanding payroll deductions and expenses are withheld.
The idea that low wages are caused by unemployment, as Heritage Foundation’s Chief Economist Steve Moore recently claimed, is the wrong assessment. Unemployment might give corporations a better negotiating position, leading to lower salaries, but it hurts them in the end when domestic markets can’t afford to buy whatever it is they’re selling. This is of course partly helped by the flood of currency being created out of thin air in hopes some of it will land in consumers’ pockets (but oddly never does as promised).
Moore's right about one thing: we need dialogue on job growth policies. But the only rational, effective job growth policy is to adjust wages with inflation, not only because it respects the workforce – without which there is no business – but because it's ultimately better for the economy because it puts more buying dollars in the marketplace.
The reason people won’t or can’t pay the extra buck for a sandwich at a minimum-wage eatery, whose pay suddenly becomes $10.10 an hour, is because the office workers haven’t received a cost-of-living or merit increase for the last six years. It's the office workers who are getting pinched, but when they complain about how expensive the food is at the lunch counter or grocery store, they should rightly direct their anger at their employers for stagnating wages instead of parroting the lies being fed to them by corporate-run media outlets who want you to think that equitable wages leads to job loss.
It’s fundamental that poverty creates no demand, and that’s the real harm to our economy; when people aren't paid equitably for the fruits of their labor, they buy cheaper and fewer products and services. It’s intuitive that when wages contract, consumer demand contracts.
Corporations don’t add jobs when they’re handed a few tax breaks and other subsidies. They add jobs when demand increases; when the customers are there. If a corporation gets a gift from the tax payer, it makes more sense that the CEO buys a Learjet than to add jobs if demand can’t support the additional workforce.
You cannot have a conversation about the housing bubble and its economic impacts without also talking about depressed wages and lost jobs and the suffering on Main Street and in our neighborhoods. In the game of musical chairs that is our financial markets, it’s not hard to see who got the cushy chairs when the music stopped; they’re the same ones to whom the political class are beholden, and therefore shielded from any accountability.
But we’re getting used to CEOs taking the first slice of the pie for themselves. They’re people, too, right?
Corporations are comprised of individuals, so the notion that they, as entities, are entitled to be recognized as people is completely beyond the pale of fairness. When corporations are granted the same rights as individuals, we find that corporations exercise extra rights – super rights, if you will – through enormously greater power and influence … more than any other collective of people.
Corporations already have a huge advantage when it comes to influencing government via their in-house captive audience, those individuals who comprise the corporation, who are at least somewhat subservient to their employer. To add to that the extraordinary status as “person” is mind boggling.
States and communities should begin putting their collective legislative feet down and facilitating some local requirements on absentee parasite corporations that tend to hurt communities as opposed to acting as responsible corporate citizens. There could be local ownership requirements in addition to an objective measurement of economic and commercial impact; the ratio of what a restaurant brings to a community versus what it removes. The ratio of revenue versus wages & taxes, for example.
But that's not the most fundamental issue in this society.
Let’s be clear. The so-called Republicans who purport to identify with conservatism are advancing policies that help corporate interests amass or export the wealth of this country, leaving the rest of us with fewer greenbacks – of diminishing value – after ever-expanding payroll deductions and expenses are withheld.
The idea that low wages are caused by unemployment, as Heritage Foundation’s Chief Economist Steve Moore recently claimed, is the wrong assessment. Unemployment might give corporations a better negotiating position, leading to lower salaries, but it hurts them in the end when domestic markets can’t afford to buy whatever it is they’re selling. This is of course partly helped by the flood of currency being created out of thin air in hopes some of it will land in consumers’ pockets (but oddly never does as promised).
Moore's right about one thing: we need dialogue on job growth policies. But the only rational, effective job growth policy is to adjust wages with inflation, not only because it respects the workforce – without which there is no business – but because it's ultimately better for the economy because it puts more buying dollars in the marketplace.
The reason people won’t or can’t pay the extra buck for a sandwich at a minimum-wage eatery, whose pay suddenly becomes $10.10 an hour, is because the office workers haven’t received a cost-of-living or merit increase for the last six years. It's the office workers who are getting pinched, but when they complain about how expensive the food is at the lunch counter or grocery store, they should rightly direct their anger at their employers for stagnating wages instead of parroting the lies being fed to them by corporate-run media outlets who want you to think that equitable wages leads to job loss.
It’s fundamental that poverty creates no demand, and that’s the real harm to our economy; when people aren't paid equitably for the fruits of their labor, they buy cheaper and fewer products and services. It’s intuitive that when wages contract, consumer demand contracts.
Corporations don’t add jobs when they’re handed a few tax breaks and other subsidies. They add jobs when demand increases; when the customers are there. If a corporation gets a gift from the tax payer, it makes more sense that the CEO buys a Learjet than to add jobs if demand can’t support the additional workforce.
You cannot have a conversation about the housing bubble and its economic impacts without also talking about depressed wages and lost jobs and the suffering on Main Street and in our neighborhoods. In the game of musical chairs that is our financial markets, it’s not hard to see who got the cushy chairs when the music stopped; they’re the same ones to whom the political class are beholden, and therefore shielded from any accountability.
But we’re getting used to CEOs taking the first slice of the pie for themselves. They’re people, too, right?
Corporations are comprised of individuals, so the notion that they, as entities, are entitled to be recognized as people is completely beyond the pale of fairness. When corporations are granted the same rights as individuals, we find that corporations exercise extra rights – super rights, if you will – through enormously greater power and influence … more than any other collective of people.
Corporations already have a huge advantage when it comes to influencing government via their in-house captive audience, those individuals who comprise the corporation, who are at least somewhat subservient to their employer. To add to that the extraordinary status as “person” is mind boggling.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Ten basic things everyone should know when cops want to talk
Whether you're pulled over by police or have an encounter on the sidewalk, here are some essential tips on how to preserve your rights.
If you want to know more, you can start with the landmark Supreme Court Miranda case associated with the Miranda Warning, the case that defined modern day stop-and-frisk encounters called Terry v. Ohio, or Brown v. Texas, which established stop-and-ID standards.
Understand that I'm an informal student of criminal law and not an attorney. This article represents a few of the things I've learned throughout my adult life. It's not legal advise by any stretch, but rather a launching pad for your own legal research.
I. It's insufficient to simply remain silent because police might construe that as uncooperative behavior.These tips are but a tip of the iceberg when it comes to criminal law. The more you know, the better prepared and more confident you can be if you have a run-in with police. And please don't take these items as wholesale facts; please let them be a trigger to get you started with your own research.
II. In order to preserve your constitutional rights, you should never consent to forfeiting them.
III. By answering questions without the benefit of your lawyer, you are forfeiting your Fifth Amendment protection against self incrimination and undermining your Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
IV. By consenting to searches, you forfeit whatever shred of Fourth Amendment protection against illegal search & seizure the Supreme Court hasn't yet eviscerated.
V. To preserve your 4th, 5th & 6th Amendment rights, say out loud that you refuse to answer any questions without your lawyer, and that you do not consent to any searches.
VI. A person’s refusal is insufficient cause for cops to suspect wrongdoing, which is the necessary legal justification for cops to detain you.
VII. If a cop can claim you committed an offence like speeding, he can then detain you long enough to write a summons. An offence also gives him adequate justification to demand your driver's license, insurance and registration. However he cannot arbitrarily expand the scope of the seizure (detention) without some other justification ... or your consent. Once the summons is signed, you are, de facto, free to go, so any subsequent encounter then becomes a voluntary (or consensual) one, to which you may refuse and politely depart.
VIII. Lacking reasonable suspicion or probable cause, a cop can't legally detain you ... unless you consent to it. Also, if no offense has been committed, he cannot demand identification (except in states with stop-and-ID laws; but even there, 'reasonable articulable suspicion' of wrongdoing is still needed).
IX. A casual conversation is a consensual encounter, but you may only know whether it's consensual or not if you ask specifically whether you're free to go. A trial verdict can turn on that fact alone.
X. Cops can and do con citizens out of their rights in order to bolster their arrest metrics and standing in their respective departments.
If you want to know more, you can start with the landmark Supreme Court Miranda case associated with the Miranda Warning, the case that defined modern day stop-and-frisk encounters called Terry v. Ohio, or Brown v. Texas, which established stop-and-ID standards.
Understand that I'm an informal student of criminal law and not an attorney. This article represents a few of the things I've learned throughout my adult life. It's not legal advise by any stretch, but rather a launching pad for your own legal research.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
The cops have a plan for you
I've written about police encounters through the general advice of criminal defense attorneys and have shared a particular video that outlined one pretty important rule. You have the right to remain silent, so you should do it. The "Don't Talk to Cops" video was close to an hour. This lesson is not.
I've found another excellent video that covers the same essential bases, but it's much more condensed, yet well articulated and laid out. It's by defense attorney Mary Griego. Her basic message is that police have a plan for you, and that's to make you an informant ... against yourself. Your task is to have a plan of your own ... hopefully before cops come calling.
Instead of rehashing it in detail, I'll give you the recap version. When the cops come knocking, follow these steps to minimize the amount of evidence that is collected and used against you:
Griego suggests you create crime fantasies and practice with friends how you'd handle yourself when police knock on the door. She says to do it with your kids because minors also have civil rights.
Source: Ignite New Mexico. Tags: Albuquerque, New Mexico | Albuquerque Police Department (APD) | Bernalillo County Sherrif's Office (BCSO)
I've found another excellent video that covers the same essential bases, but it's much more condensed, yet well articulated and laid out. It's by defense attorney Mary Griego. Her basic message is that police have a plan for you, and that's to make you an informant ... against yourself. Your task is to have a plan of your own ... hopefully before cops come calling.
Instead of rehashing it in detail, I'll give you the recap version. When the cops come knocking, follow these steps to minimize the amount of evidence that is collected and used against you:
- Shut up! Please shut up!
- Stay shut up ... unless you're refusing consent, asking what you have to do, asking for your lawyer or giving your name and date of birth.
- Do as you're ordered and not as you're asked. Make sure you're not being conned into thinking you have to unless it's a command.
Griego suggests you create crime fantasies and practice with friends how you'd handle yourself when police knock on the door. She says to do it with your kids because minors also have civil rights.
Source: Ignite New Mexico. Tags: Albuquerque, New Mexico | Albuquerque Police Department (APD) | Bernalillo County Sherrif's Office (BCSO)
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Rights are like soil; mitigate erosion or lose them
I watched a video about a DUI checkpoint where the driver refused to answer questions and some of the subsequent comments were scathing. “All you had to say was that you hadn’t been drinking.” “Dude, you had your kid in the car, so you should have just cooperated.”
It disturbed me most to read some of those ignorant comments, so I made one of my own, thanking the person for posting the video.
[ Watch the video ]
This is how I feel when I believe our rights are being eroded. I see it as a slap in the face to anyone who ever served in our fighting forces because the very thing that’s fashionable to say about them, that “they’re fighting for our freedom,” is completely and irretrievably lost if we continue to bow to those who believe they have authority over us, or who would regard our rights as optional and conditional.
Those of us who self-govern, and would never contemplate trespassing on the rights of others, behave ourselves because we feel it’s a moral obligation to fellow men and women.
As someone who grew up in an agricultural community, I liken our natural rights to the top soil of our land, both of which will erode unless we take careful and deliberate steps to mitigate it.
I thanked Corrie from the video because I see him as one of the good people who is helping to mitigate the erosion of our rights and is very deserving our thanks.
Throughout history, people have paid with their lives so that you might enjoy the freedoms for which they made the ultimate investment. No one is asking that you thank, or even recognize, those brave souls, but you might at least honor them with a little integrity.
Would you rob freedom from your fellow citizen freedom is you were paid to do so? Would you use artificial authority to oppress your neighbors?
Please think before you blindly relay an unjust warrant upon those you pretend to protect.
I will tell you that I cannot afford the cost of your protection if the cost is my freedom.
If the cost of your protection is my freedom, then keep it.
It disturbed me most to read some of those ignorant comments, so I made one of my own, thanking the person for posting the video.
[ Watch the video ]
Thank you, Corrie! In my opinion making an oath to the US Constitution means not conning or pressing people into forfeiting the very rights guaranteed by it, whether on a wholesale level such as this or individually. These suspicionless checkpoints are akin to the tactics British and Nazi officials used to use make people prove their innocence.
It's startling to see how many people that comment here lack even a basic understanding of American civics and why the revolutionary war was fought. Because our freedom was paid for with human lives throughout American history, the least we owe to that bravery is to not capitulate when someone with the government tries to trick us out of our just rights -- or at least not criticize people like you who exhibit the courage to stand your ground and refuse to capitulate.
This is how I feel when I believe our rights are being eroded. I see it as a slap in the face to anyone who ever served in our fighting forces because the very thing that’s fashionable to say about them, that “they’re fighting for our freedom,” is completely and irretrievably lost if we continue to bow to those who believe they have authority over us, or who would regard our rights as optional and conditional.
Those of us who self-govern, and would never contemplate trespassing on the rights of others, behave ourselves because we feel it’s a moral obligation to fellow men and women.
As someone who grew up in an agricultural community, I liken our natural rights to the top soil of our land, both of which will erode unless we take careful and deliberate steps to mitigate it.
I thanked Corrie from the video because I see him as one of the good people who is helping to mitigate the erosion of our rights and is very deserving our thanks.
Throughout history, people have paid with their lives so that you might enjoy the freedoms for which they made the ultimate investment. No one is asking that you thank, or even recognize, those brave souls, but you might at least honor them with a little integrity.
Would you rob freedom from your fellow citizen freedom is you were paid to do so? Would you use artificial authority to oppress your neighbors?
Please think before you blindly relay an unjust warrant upon those you pretend to protect.
I will tell you that I cannot afford the cost of your protection if the cost is my freedom.
If the cost of your protection is my freedom, then keep it.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
As we bicker with each other, we fail to notice the elephant in the room
I feel somewhat obsessed following some of the partisan bickering I encounter, although I can't say I have a stomach for it.
It sounds like some of you on the right are just as ignorant as your counterparts on the left; you both either have your heads in the sand or have been programmed by your favorite flavor of crony capitalist-owned media, who apparently manage public opinion and subsequent dialog -- which I'm sure is just as the absentee crony capitalists want it.
If they keep us fighting with each other, maybe we won't notice the elephant in the room.
On one end of the economy they pay their workers inequitable wages and on the other they steer Washington by the nose ring on tax (and other) policy, ensuring that they keep the wealth and the power to themselves. All the while we in the cheap seats get squeezed at both ends.
Look around. They don't live here. They're not your neighbors, they don't shop where you do, they don't go to your church, and they're definitely not your friends. They are, however, throwing lavish, celebrity-laced parties for your delegation.
But the poverty they are cultivating ultimately creates no demand ... and that's where we are headed as a collective, thanks to the gutless partisans we keep re-hiring.
It sounds like some of you on the right are just as ignorant as your counterparts on the left; you both either have your heads in the sand or have been programmed by your favorite flavor of crony capitalist-owned media, who apparently manage public opinion and subsequent dialog -- which I'm sure is just as the absentee crony capitalists want it.
If they keep us fighting with each other, maybe we won't notice the elephant in the room.
On one end of the economy they pay their workers inequitable wages and on the other they steer Washington by the nose ring on tax (and other) policy, ensuring that they keep the wealth and the power to themselves. All the while we in the cheap seats get squeezed at both ends.
Look around. They don't live here. They're not your neighbors, they don't shop where you do, they don't go to your church, and they're definitely not your friends. They are, however, throwing lavish, celebrity-laced parties for your delegation.
But the poverty they are cultivating ultimately creates no demand ... and that's where we are headed as a collective, thanks to the gutless partisans we keep re-hiring.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Poverty creates no demand
Every year I have to unload on Walmart. It may be a sickness, but please bear with me just the same. The doctor says it’s therapeutic.
When someone admits to you who they are on the inside, believe them.
According to Walmart's own numbers, they employ 1,300,000 people across the country. By my math, a worker likely making under $13,000 per year needs to recognize that the fruits of his or her labor are padding the pockets of its owners to the tune of $13 billion in pure profit.
Again, this is by Walmart's own admission. If you got out your calculator like I did, you probably figured out that $13 billion equates to an average of $10,000 per year skimmed from the pockets of each and every Walmart employee across this bountiful land. And these poor people are on welfare, which is, as you well know, an array of taxpayer-funded programs.
While a manager gets to make a living wage – or at least today's median salary – which is $50,000, how do you suppose you'd feel as an associate knowing your supervisor is making at least 3 times your salary? Or that another manager is earning more than a dozen times what you're paid? Do you suppose any manager does 3-12 times the work of an associate? Or earns for the coffers 3-12 times more in revenue?
But wait. Walmart says they’re good citizens and they give to charity.
That's partly true. They do say they give to charity. But not much. And at the end of the day they’re absolutely not giving of themselves because taxpayers subsidize the right-offs.
Here’s how it plays out with Walmart’s own figures: 21% of this workforce, or 275,000 8-dollar-an-hour Walmart associates, were asked to donate a day's work to charity. The value placed on that herculean effort by the Walmart execs is $18 million.
Do the math on the numbers Walmart provides: 2.2 million hours at $18 million. That comes to $8.18 per hour. At 8 hours a day, that's 275,000 worker days.
I know that $18 million is a lot of money to most, and that's by design. But it’s really only .004% of the company's share of the American dream they capture annually. Not 10%. Not even 1%. I said it right; I did the math three times. $18 million is.004% of Walmart’s revenues, which they donated in the form of ... well, they presumably sent a few of its employees to help clean up Habitat for Humanity building sites, undoubtedly sporting blue smiley-face t-shirts, for a day … at a rate of $8.18 per hour. All expenses paid, mind you, by the US taxpayer.
This is what Walmart freely admits to. They've provided all the rope they need to hang themselves -- right on their own website! All I'm doing is a little math to give it some context and real-world prospective.
They said their foundation gave more than $1 billion in cash and "in-kind contributions around the world." That sounds pretty generous, right? Again, it's an impressive sum of generosity. But how much of that was actually cash and what portion was considered "in-kind"? And what precisely does "in-kind contributions" mean, anyway? Is that merchandise that fell out the backs of trucks? Floor scraps? And was it a tax write-off?
Bet on it.
Listen, if you think for a second that this might be a propaganda piece, then I invite you to go see the information with your own eyes: news.walmart.com/walmart-facts. (archived screenshot.)
I've heard a lot of arguments and many seem like logical points at first blush. Walmart employees should be happy to have jobs. No one is forcing them to work there. Lots of them get raises and promotions.
Well, that's sort of true. Kory Lundberg, a Walmart spokesman, told The Hill last month that the retailer promotes an average 430 staff per day. That’s basically true. I did the math. The precise daily average, using their figures, is 438.36 employees that are getting "jobs with more responsibility and higher pay."
I'll assume that's not an outright lie, but it might be veiling the real story. Isn’t it plausible, perhaps likely, that “higher” means some along the lines of 25-cents an hour – a measly $500 a year?
If the the details had been remotely impressive, we all know the Walmart spokesman would have shared a more revealing tale, but he remained ambiguous in his answers. If the average salary increase was $1 and 68% of employees got one, they'd be screaming that from the tallest buildings.
Lundberg says there are "...many associate positions that pay more than $25,000 per year." But again, the devil's in the details, isn't it? What percentage of non-supervisory associates earned more than $25,000 last year? Perhaps it's half of them. But more likely is closer to 50 people. And that would still qualify as a lot, even though it's only .00004% of their workers that can now afford to live in a trailer park instead of under the bridge thanks to the Walton family’s generosity.
The 'Hill' story’s here.
Hey, corporate America, in case you weren’t sure, poverty does in fact create no demand for the products and services you’re so incredibly proud of!
I believe more now than ever that the absentee big-box owners will not be satisfied until they lower the standard of living for everyone around the world. And eventually they will finally stop ... but only because it implodes from the very poverty it helped to create.
Meantime Walmart and others will wield their awesome power with schemes to force suppliers to all-new price lows, ensuring their places in the pockets of poor families' and the tax-payers who help feed them, as they continue to depress wages for workers, and of course continuing to enrich the absentee owners.
To conclude, I borrow the wise words of country music legends Alabama: “The fruits of their labor are worth more than their pay.”
I've changed the lyrics a little. I hope they don't mind.
There are people in this country who work hard every day
Not for fame or fortune do they strive
But the fruits of their labor are worth more than their pay
And it's time a few of them were recognized
Hello, Detroit Walmart tire & auto center workers, let me thank you for your time
You work a 29-hour week that's hardly a living, but you still send it on down the line
Hello, Pittsburgh Walmart warehouse workers, let me thank you for your time
You work a 29-hour week that's hardly a living, but you still send it on down the line
This is for the one who swings the broom, sweeping up the spill
Or the one behind the counter, ringing up the sale
Or the one who stocks the shelves, the one who polishes the rails
For everyone who works behind the scenes
You can see them every morning in the trucks and in the stores
In the city streets and the quiet country towns
Working together like spokes inside a wheel
They try to keep their families afloat
Hello, Kansas Walmart associates, let me thank you for your time
You work a 29-hour week that's hardly a living, but you still send it on down the line
Hello, West Virginia Walmart pharmacist, let me thank you for your time
You work a 29-hour week that's hardly a living, but you still send it on down the line
This is for the one who drives the big rig, up and down the road
Or the one out in the warehouse, bringing in the load
Or the waitress, the mechanic, the loss prevention specialist on patrol
For everyone who works behind the scenes
With a spirit you can't replace with no machine
Hello America, let me thank you for your time
When someone admits to you who they are on the inside, believe them.
According to Walmart's own numbers, they employ 1,300,000 people across the country. By my math, a worker likely making under $13,000 per year needs to recognize that the fruits of his or her labor are padding the pockets of its owners to the tune of $13 billion in pure profit.
Again, this is by Walmart's own admission. If you got out your calculator like I did, you probably figured out that $13 billion equates to an average of $10,000 per year skimmed from the pockets of each and every Walmart employee across this bountiful land. And these poor people are on welfare, which is, as you well know, an array of taxpayer-funded programs.
While a manager gets to make a living wage – or at least today's median salary – which is $50,000, how do you suppose you'd feel as an associate knowing your supervisor is making at least 3 times your salary? Or that another manager is earning more than a dozen times what you're paid? Do you suppose any manager does 3-12 times the work of an associate? Or earns for the coffers 3-12 times more in revenue?
But wait. Walmart says they’re good citizens and they give to charity.
That's partly true. They do say they give to charity. But not much. And at the end of the day they’re absolutely not giving of themselves because taxpayers subsidize the right-offs.
Here’s how it plays out with Walmart’s own figures: 21% of this workforce, or 275,000 8-dollar-an-hour Walmart associates, were asked to donate a day's work to charity. The value placed on that herculean effort by the Walmart execs is $18 million.
Do the math on the numbers Walmart provides: 2.2 million hours at $18 million. That comes to $8.18 per hour. At 8 hours a day, that's 275,000 worker days.
I know that $18 million is a lot of money to most, and that's by design. But it’s really only .004% of the company's share of the American dream they capture annually. Not 10%. Not even 1%. I said it right; I did the math three times. $18 million is.004% of Walmart’s revenues, which they donated in the form of ... well, they presumably sent a few of its employees to help clean up Habitat for Humanity building sites, undoubtedly sporting blue smiley-face t-shirts, for a day … at a rate of $8.18 per hour. All expenses paid, mind you, by the US taxpayer.
This is what Walmart freely admits to. They've provided all the rope they need to hang themselves -- right on their own website! All I'm doing is a little math to give it some context and real-world prospective.
They said their foundation gave more than $1 billion in cash and "in-kind contributions around the world." That sounds pretty generous, right? Again, it's an impressive sum of generosity. But how much of that was actually cash and what portion was considered "in-kind"? And what precisely does "in-kind contributions" mean, anyway? Is that merchandise that fell out the backs of trucks? Floor scraps? And was it a tax write-off?
Bet on it.
Listen, if you think for a second that this might be a propaganda piece, then I invite you to go see the information with your own eyes: news.walmart.com/walmart-facts. (archived screenshot.)
I've heard a lot of arguments and many seem like logical points at first blush. Walmart employees should be happy to have jobs. No one is forcing them to work there. Lots of them get raises and promotions.
Well, that's sort of true. Kory Lundberg, a Walmart spokesman, told The Hill last month that the retailer promotes an average 430 staff per day. That’s basically true. I did the math. The precise daily average, using their figures, is 438.36 employees that are getting "jobs with more responsibility and higher pay."
I'll assume that's not an outright lie, but it might be veiling the real story. Isn’t it plausible, perhaps likely, that “higher” means some along the lines of 25-cents an hour – a measly $500 a year?
If the the details had been remotely impressive, we all know the Walmart spokesman would have shared a more revealing tale, but he remained ambiguous in his answers. If the average salary increase was $1 and 68% of employees got one, they'd be screaming that from the tallest buildings.
Lundberg says there are "...many associate positions that pay more than $25,000 per year." But again, the devil's in the details, isn't it? What percentage of non-supervisory associates earned more than $25,000 last year? Perhaps it's half of them. But more likely is closer to 50 people. And that would still qualify as a lot, even though it's only .00004% of their workers that can now afford to live in a trailer park instead of under the bridge thanks to the Walton family’s generosity.
The 'Hill' story’s here.
Hey, corporate America, in case you weren’t sure, poverty does in fact create no demand for the products and services you’re so incredibly proud of!
I believe more now than ever that the absentee big-box owners will not be satisfied until they lower the standard of living for everyone around the world. And eventually they will finally stop ... but only because it implodes from the very poverty it helped to create.
Meantime Walmart and others will wield their awesome power with schemes to force suppliers to all-new price lows, ensuring their places in the pockets of poor families' and the tax-payers who help feed them, as they continue to depress wages for workers, and of course continuing to enrich the absentee owners.
To conclude, I borrow the wise words of country music legends Alabama: “The fruits of their labor are worth more than their pay.”
I've changed the lyrics a little. I hope they don't mind.
There are people in this country who work hard every day
Not for fame or fortune do they strive
But the fruits of their labor are worth more than their pay
And it's time a few of them were recognized
Hello, Detroit Walmart tire & auto center workers, let me thank you for your time
You work a 29-hour week that's hardly a living, but you still send it on down the line
Hello, Pittsburgh Walmart warehouse workers, let me thank you for your time
You work a 29-hour week that's hardly a living, but you still send it on down the line
This is for the one who swings the broom, sweeping up the spill
Or the one behind the counter, ringing up the sale
Or the one who stocks the shelves, the one who polishes the rails
For everyone who works behind the scenes
You can see them every morning in the trucks and in the stores
In the city streets and the quiet country towns
Working together like spokes inside a wheel
They try to keep their families afloat
Hello, Kansas Walmart associates, let me thank you for your time
You work a 29-hour week that's hardly a living, but you still send it on down the line
Hello, West Virginia Walmart pharmacist, let me thank you for your time
You work a 29-hour week that's hardly a living, but you still send it on down the line
This is for the one who drives the big rig, up and down the road
Or the one out in the warehouse, bringing in the load
Or the waitress, the mechanic, the loss prevention specialist on patrol
For everyone who works behind the scenes
With a spirit you can't replace with no machine
Hello America, let me thank you for your time
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