Michael Kindt's Blog, page 475

The War On Poverty

In America, we don't much like the poor and/or needy. They're always whining, wanting help. We've even gone so far as to call the help we do reluctantly give them 'entitlement' programs. It's a brilliant turn-about of phrase on our part and actually makes them sound pompous.

The noble Liberalism that emerged during the 18th and 19th centuries and came to partial fruition in the 20th is now dead. Today's liberals are, at best, utterly toothless and intellectually lost in the wilderness of political correctness, or, most likely, in unrealized collusion with the right.

The programs and efforts that sought to help the less fortunate, to bring them a measure of equality, to attempt to alleviate their suffering will soon be gutted and gone, the money behind it squandered on war and corporatism.

In terms of real numbers, the wealthy pay virtually no taxes, but neither do the poor. This needs to be remedied. After all, do not the poor go to parks and benefit from roads? Do they not attend public schools where they're fed training masquerading as education? Are they not the ones usually arrested and jailed under the millions of imaginary offenses that have been created to criminalize them?

We love wars in America. Every decade or so we have one, and when we're not busy bombing whatever brown people we have currently demonized, we're busy fighting wars on other things. Most notably there's been the war on terror, which, if you think about it, is a completely redundant phrase. In reality, it's just a war on freedom and constitutional rights perpetrated under the guise of 'security'. There's also been the war on drugs, which, of course, has been a failure so complete and utter as to be comical on a cosmic scale. It has also weakened freedoms and constitutional rights, bloated our prisons to the point of morbid obesity, and created billionaire drug lords with their own private armies capable of rivaling third world states.

The war on poverty is a recent animal, birthed and nursed by the make-believe debt crisis. Its genetics, however, are basically hate. The purpose behind it is to be as cruel and uncaring toward the poor as possible, so that they may learn the error of their ways.

Recently, Huntsman, Perry, and Bachmann have all called for increasing taxes on the poor and working people of this country. Of course, they hide it in political-speak so it doesn't sound like that, but that's what it is. They are calling for new taxes, and on everyone but the rich.

This may be shocking to some with left-over vestiges of dying Liberalism, but it's the right thing to do. It's the most honest thing to do. We have chosen a very dark road to go down with regard to the vast majority of people in this country and the least we can do is admit it to ourselves.

It's ridiculous at this point in American history to believe that real change can come about in the political process. The Obama Presidency has taught us that. It has been a sham and everyone who believed in it knows it.

Unless we the people make the changes needed ourselves, nothing will change. The right will continue to blather about patriotism, will continue to ooze platitudes regarding the imaginary God they so fervently pretend to believe in. They will continue to rail against big government even as they increase its power and role as faithful houseboy to the wealthy and corporate elite.

Liberals, meanwhile, will continue doing what they do best: circling the right's ankles like yappy little dogs.

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paulosthegreek replied to your post: It's 11:50 am. Too early for wine?I'm drinking beer....

paulosthegreek replied to your post: It's 11:50 am. Too early for wine?

I'm drinking beer. Might crack open some wine in a bit. Mind you, it is 7pm here.

I am pretending I'm in England (the motherland!), and that I'm just a regular bloke.

*succumbs to peer pressure* CHEERS!

*succumbs to peer pressure* CHEERS!

It's 11:50 am. Too early for wine?

There's a Cru Beaujolais sitting over there on the counter, crying "Drink me! Drink me!" in this tiny, cute voice that's just tugging at my heartstrings.

BROKEN EYESincidental paracletefascination hand &...

BROKEN EYES

incidental paraclete
fascination hand & feet

sleep:
the broken eyes go blue
turn gray
& fade,
fade away

nothing, maybe night or death
green teeth, dank breath

hidden:
the broken eyes fall flat
turn dark, go black
& fade,
fade away

metaphors within similes
under parasols in mud & sleaze

fire:
the broken eyes burn bright
roll back, lose sight

"Soon the soldiers were all crowded into the river and...

"Soon the soldiers were all crowded into the river and many Lakotas too, and I was in the water awhile. Men and horses were all mixed up and fighting in the water, and it was like hail falling in the river. Then we were out of the river, and people were stripping dead soldiers and putting the clothes on themselves. There was a soldier on the ground and he was still kicking. A Lakota rode up and said to me, "Boy, get off and scalp him." I got off and started to do it. He had short hair and my knife was not very sharp. He ground his teeth. Then I shot him in the forehead and got his scalp.

When I got to the women on the hill they were all singing and making the tremolo [a shout or cry while patting the lips with one hand, producing a distinctive warble] to cheer the men fighting across the river in the dust….

My mother gave a big tremolo just for me when she saw my first scalp.

I stayed there awhile with my mother and watched the big dust whirling on the hill across the river, and horses were coming out of it with empty saddles."

~ Black Elk

Photo

Pahk the cah; Worsh the clothes....U.S. Regional Accents Getting Stronger

Although the United States is an international melting pot and the average American makes a dozen moves in a lifetime, regional accents are alive and well. In fact, regional accents are becoming stronger and more different from each other, says William Labov, a professor of linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, although it's not entirely clear why.

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I find the viscera in response to your most recent post extremely sigh-inducing. I suppose stupidity can be clothed in good vocabulary. I also find it strange that people choose to remain blind to the fact that the hatred against our country is not rando

Well thanks. 9/11 pisses me off. I don't know what else to say. That picture in particular pisses me off. I think about that guy, probably just a regular person starting his day at work, with a whole life and people who love him and people he loves, and I rage. I'm ok with raging about it. I'm ok with people raging at me also, but I'm not apologizing for being pissed on this day.

I find the viscera in response to your most recent post extremely sigh-inducing. I suppose stupidity can be clothed in good vocabulary. I also find it strange that people choose to remain blind to the fact that the hatred against our country is not rando

Well thanks. 9/11 pisses me off. I don't know what else to say. That picture in particular pisses me off. I think about that guy, probably just a regular person starting his day at work, with a whole life and people who love him and people he loves, and I rage. I'm ok with raging about it. I'm ok with people raging at me also, but I'm not apologizing for being pissed on this day.