June 26, 2012

No MrScorpio rant this week...

I'm taking a little time off from giving a fuck about all the utter shit that's causing America to have an intestinal blockage and I'm concentrating on something that's infinitely more important: Whatever.

You all will get the next weekly rant from yours truly whenever the mood suits me.

Taking the chill pill… NOW!

June 20, 2012

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...

The man behind the curtain is of course the very fact that we're in a depression at this very moment because the leaders who are running things and the media who are supposed to document it all are refusing to do their jobs. They will not question the ways of the world. They refuse to advance the right kind of questions and are also refusing to acknowledge the fact that perhaps less than five percent of this nation's wealth is actually being circulated throughout our economy.

They are afraid of the answers, it's so plain to see.

That our great wealth is set aside and is invisible to all of us, we're not even supposed to acknowledge that it even exists. It's like some great secret, known only to the mystical wizards who are guarding them away from the peasants in the street. That's because that wealth is sanctioned for making a bloated and unnecessary arsenal, which either sits around and doesn't make any return on the investment, or is sold overseas at discount prices… Think of that strategy as the kind where pushers give away freebees, hook potential customers on their highly addictive junk and then charge exorbitant prices when they come crawling back, jonesing on their knees for more.

Parts, upgrades and maintenance, that's how you hook the rubes on your Pentagon junk, baby. Those weapons, mind you, create a temping incentive to use them against other people for any damn reason that can be imagined. But more about that some other time.

But the real shameful story is that our wealth is also being hoarded by the über-rich, the multinationals and the banks. Demand creation isn't even being discussed out loud. That's because, in order to create demand, the massive amount of wealth that is currently held and is either being unused or abused by our betters is going to have to be widely redistributed to generate the engine for a truly vibrant and healthy economy.

But who wants say that?

Any one of those pols or talking heads who would say something like that will be quickly discredited and disposed of so fast that it'll make their heads spin. This is in spite of the fact that some of the slide into Republican Hell has been slowed down because of the President's own efforts in the private sector, against the efforts of the GOP dilettantes in the Congress who are refusing to move forward on job creating and while they're too busy trying to legislate uteruses and snipe chasing the Attorney General of the United States.

But, do you REALLY want to see a bloodbath? Just TRY even HINTING at massively redistributing the nation's wealth away from the hoarders at the top towards the rest of the hoi polloi who are just itching to move it along and it will create that bloodbath in the blab-o-sphere. So, we're all, you I and every other person that you know, are resorting to playing with fractions of pennies while hundred dollar bills are being used to light Cohibas in the Halls of Power and Influence.

Oh, and about those pesky banks, I didn't forget about them… They're gambling the wealth of nation on highly risky and unstable financial "instruments" with all of OUR money, while they're feathering their own nests in the long run.

What's left is a society that's been fooled into witch hunting each other for the problems created by those at the very top. Making people feel guilty for wanting fair treatment and the means to create a better standard of living for their families. The rich are at war with the rest of us because 95.5% of the wealth that they have just isn't enough for them. They want it all and they don't want anyone to pull the curtains away.

Let's say that the complete picture is right there in front of everybody, yet they have been thoroughly drilled into not seeing what is plainly there.

That is the situation that we're living in today. Now, that's the bad news.

The good news, however, is that today is the first day of Summer...

SO, LET'S PARTY, PARTY PEOPLE!!!

June 11, 2012

The Obvious Lie About Romney

Which is quite simply that he's only fit to govern the country merely because he's insanely rich.

OK, so he's able to spend godless amounts of money on himself and his large and similarly insanely rich family… Are we simply supposed to swallow that argument?

Now let's consider the fact that no one actually likes this guy, because of course there is really nothing about him, other than his insane riches, TO like. Granted, being "liked" really isn't a perquisite to being a good leader. Lots of great leaders were never liked, so no one really needs to like this guy. Suffice it to say, most of those "great" leaders WERE actually feared, because they were obscenely violent, authoritarian and suffered from delusions of grandeur, as they took their people down into an abyss of ruin… But hey, they've made it to the history books, right?

But let's take this "He's-Right-For-President-Merely-Because-He's-A-Rich-Guy" argument:

First off, that really is a hopelessly lame and pretty darn low bar to set for fitness to earn the highest office in the land, isn't it? Shouldn't we have a better standard of qualifications for the presidency?

Hell, this IS some really important stuff that we're considering here.

Take, for example, the standards as defined in the Self-Actualization level of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. As you know, the self-actualization level demonstrates achievement needs and are the highest example of actual self-development. When we put Romney up against the standards of achievement and self-actualizatiion, it's quite obvious as to what his deficiencies are. That, in spite of all of his riches, he's not a person who has reached his full potential.

Here are the qualities of self-actualizers:

Now let's compare and contrast this some of this list against Romney's known qualities:



Is he moral?

No, he's not particularly MORAL, because his fealty to the Mormon church's dogma and customs only speaks to his adherence to Mormons. When it comes to actual people, he's quite clear about his general disdain. He's also a known animal abuser and bully and has never been sufficiently remorseful or sympathetic about the plight of any of his past victims.

Piety and morality are two different things. Ask any preacher that's been caught in a sex scandal or caught cheating his or her parishioners out of a lot of money.

Is he creative?

Next, he's not a creative person or appreciative of creativity. Does he sponsor or advocated the arts? Does he inspire creativity in others? Quite the opposite: One of his obvious shortfalls is that he's a bland and boring individual who can't really inspire anyone to anything.

That is an extremely detrimental quality for any leader.

Is he a proven problem solver?

Take in consideration his creation of RomneyCare as Mass. Governor: Now, that would be a great example that he can be a problem solver… Were he to run with that today. But he's not, am I right? Much of the federal Affordable Care Act was built on RomneyCare's own example and Romney himself is actually running away from that. He's discrediting himself as a proven problem solver. INSTEAD, we're supposed to base his qualifications as a problem solver strictly on his skill at making himself rich at the expense of others.

Turns out he's touting his penchant for causing people's problems, through unemployment, OVER his actions of helping people receive affordable health care.

Again, not a very good quality for a leader.

Is he spontaneous?

Unfortunately for him, any time he expresses any kind of spontaneity on the campaign trail, all it does is highlight the fact that he's obtuse and detestable. Hence his language is always regimented and tailored to whatever ever audience he's talking to at the time. It demonstrates his obvious inability to express whatever moral clarity and strength of conviction that he may have. He never wants to defend them, if he actually has them.

He merely tells people what he thinks they want to hear. Which takes to his most obvious problem:

Does he accept facts?

No, of course not. The man is a proven LIAR. He lies about EVERYTHING, even when he doesn't have to lie and even when his lies are easily disprovable. He's a practiced liar, it's not even close to being unintentional. His ONLY retort for being confronted with his own lies is MORE LIES.

The man behaves as if he's missing the chromosome that allows him to tell the truth.

Is such a craven liar really the kind of person that we want to have taking care of the nation's affairs?

This country is still in a pretty big mess and yes, there is a lot of blame to go around. Some can be blamed more than others, so it's all a matter of being relative.

However, considering the actual need for great leadership potential that any President must have to deal with all the problems that our nation faces, we really need someone to be in the Oval Office who can transcend being any level of self-aggrandizement. Just being the insanely rich guy isn't going to cut the mustard.

As long as we have half the people who vote in this country with obviously flawed values about what's required for good leadership, BEYOND some kind of penchant for amassing personal riches, we're never going to appoint qualified leadership into high public office. We're never going to provide sufficient support for leaders who are self-actualized and we're never going to find the will to build systems of self-governance to facilitate a better way of life for each and every one of ourselves.

Our value system is flawed and thus, we promote flawed leaders.

Thus we're asked to accept him, in spite of the truth about him. We're supposed to ignore the obvious lies.

Again, this is why we can never have nice things.

June 6, 2012

All empires fall because they rot from within...

That should be a warning to us all. But of course, sometimes the worst place see something is when you're standing right next to it.

When I see Americans actually voting for and promoting Republican doctrines and the end results of those doctrines, it seems to me that they really don't understand how badly it will end for us all by doing that very thing.

Now there's no question that America is the world's preeminent global power. Republicans are the greatest purveyors and abusers of that power, while Democrats function as the saviors and justifiers of it. It should be yin and yang, give and take and a delicate struggle for balance.

However, there really is no equitable balance when it comes to a preference by the American people. Clearly, they default to Republicans and merely tolerate Democrats. Unfortunately, by doing this we have created a behemoth of an empire that is completely unsustainable.

Of course, this could be seen as both a good and bad thing. Good in one way, where we would have a very good excuse to finally stop dedicating the vast wealth of America towards propping up the Military/Industrial/Congressional Complex, with all the Right Wing, militaristic nationalism that it entails. But also bad, because with that complex America which was built, the current geo-political/geo-economic structure, is actually made out of a house of cards that would have far ranging consequences if we were to cease holding it up. Plus, in order to make something good come out of a collapse, we'd have to find the will and where-with-all to build on the rubble of the empire's fall.

There's no question that, what could fill such a vacuum would be chaotic at best, but it could end up being very catastrophic for the world in the very least.

At this point we find ourselves teetering over the abyss of where Republicanism would finally take us, only to be rescued and pulled back from it at the last minute when the people occasionally tell themselves that rejecting Republicans is necessary. They're not voting FOR Democrats, by the way, but are rejecting the default.

We, as Democrats, are not the default, People - So, do not delude yourselves. The way that Republicans are allowed to get away with things that we never could should reveal to you that they are treated like the callous, but favored first son and we are nothing more than the loyal, but largely ignored red-headed step child.

The deference to Republicans is seen as natural and self-congratulatory. They are seen as the "winners", because they are favored by the rich and the powerful. Everyone loves a winner, right? Of course, you know and I know that that "winning" is always achieved on the backs of those who have the least to benefit from it. The money and power that the Republicans serve becomes very much a self-actualization of great power and influence in politics as well. The people who see the Republicans benefitting from supporting winners, then yearn to jump on the band wagon in a sadly self-serving and self-deluded fashion. Forget the price that they're paying is their own democracy, it's time to cash in.

So yesterday, we saw again a majority of people voting AGAINST their own best interests because they were voting for a "winner". It's this kind of attitude that keeps propping up The America Empire and the captains of that empire... Not the clerks who clean up after them.

Of course, there's a down side to this: We keep ignoring what's really in our best interests for everyone; a social contract that guarantees decent working conditions and living wages, a high standard of living, a clean environment, effective and equitable education, the elimination of poverty, peace and justice and the general direction that nations take when they put the needs of all of its citizens first instead of the whims of the "winners". We lose the strength and resilience of American society, when only the rich and power benefit from it. Those at the top rig the game and the rest of us keep hoping to win the lotto.

Also by trashing unions, allowing great sums of private corporate cash into the electoral process and the complete abandonment of the news media to address the lop-sidedness of it all for fear of angering their own corporate masters, unfortunately there is an eventual direction where this is going: Feudalism.

Americans will have the distinction of cheering for and identifying with their own corporate lords for their own satisfaction and by doing this through abandoning self-rule and democracy. Patriotism will be defined as serving those winners, instead of looking out for everyone. Basically, the only rights that we'll deserve are those that our betters will deem to give us. That will make our society basically weak and self-destructive. Republicans, who are prone to doubling down on their failed policies, policies that spell doom for us all and the American people keep allowing them to take the risks which only benefit the rich. The "winners" win and everyone only sees that and ignores who loses.

I can't think of anything more that is as naive and morally lazy than that. But we're doing it anyway.

So unless the majority of people wake up and figure out that they're condemning themselves to the role of serfs by continuing to vote for "the winners", the sheer weight of inequality and massive power will cause this empire of ours to collapse on itself from internal rot. So, it's going to be a fight... We just have to stop shooting ourselves in the feet in order to win it and save ourselves.

Democrats are going to have to be more than just the clean up crew. As sad as that is, it's the truth.