The Ol' Stars and Stripes!

In the wake of what I think is now just the second or third most recent open air shooting in South Carolina there is a growing movement to remove the Confederate flag wherever it still may fly particularly in government buildings.
 The logic being that the flag is a symbol of a particularly embarrassing time in this nation's past when we had what was known as chattel slavery as a principle economic driver. This, of course, was built on the racist ideology of blacks being inferior and put here to be used simply as tools.
Ok, fair enough. The Confederacy was an attempt to keep that deplorable tradition alive, but if the idea here is to destroy racist symbols that drive people to violence why exactly isn't anyone talking about doing away with the American flag as well?
America as a nation existed quite a while before the idea of the Confederacy was even conceived. In fact had there not been an America there would not have been a Confederacy. Of course, America was a nation built by slavery and extermination of the natives so right there you already meet the criteria for doing away with this symbol.
Some would argue:"Yeah but the U.S. got rid of slavery you silly goose LOL!"
Well, no the new industrial economic model simply works by way of a different kind of slavery wage slavery. Now here is the part where it will be argued this is not the same because you have a "choice" and conditions aren't as bad (apparently as long as people don't actually see flogging they're happy) blah blah.
AS far as choice goes you must work for a wage or you die and as far a the conditions go wage slavery is now a worldwide system and just like older models of slavery some slaves get better deals than others.
Ok so what about the racist element? Sure we're all wage slaves now but at least we are all a level playing field right? Simply not true thanks to more subtle but still not so subtle institutionalized racism there is a growing income gap between white and black families. Blacks tend to face far more severe punishments for minor infractions as well. For instance selling, loose cigarets might get you strangled to death on the street.
Some have said the Confederate flag moves extremists to violence. That might be true, but again what about the American flag? Historically America has inspired people to be very violent. The waving stars and stripes has been carried to battlefields all across the globe. The Confederate flag was a banner in one war the American flag clearly has more blood on its cloth. I mean fuck if you want to talk about something dangerous extremist rally around have you seen the fucking military??
In conclusion, if you find comfort in meaningless gestures and debates by all means get rid of the Confederate flag and see what changes. If you want to have a serious conversation about the pain and suffering these symbols cause well then you might want to consider throwing away the old stars and stripes as well.

Investment Opportunities

I've noticed women will disproportionately reciprocate even the most token gesture of generosity. To give an example. My girlfriend has a friend visiting her she sees maybe twice a year. We decided to drink a bit, and this friend said she wanted to drink light and would rather have beer than the tequila we were drinking.
I offered to go to the store for her, and she gave me money for a six pack. Well, I paid for the six pack myself and gave her back her money. Long story short my girlfriend was so happy about it she decided to buy me dinner and that meal will probably cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-20 dollars. Not a bad investment.

Casual Racism For a Better Tomorrow

I've noticed millennials, particularly ones that live in the city like to pretend racism just doesn't exist no matter how apparent it may be. For instance, they don't much care for gentrification on paper but that never stops them in practice. If you were to ask the college kids or what are known as young urban professional moving into Wicker Park or Logan Square if they're gentrifying the area they would probably stay no we are making it better! 
Of course making it better just happened to involve driving out all the low-income people of color. In no way though is that related to racism, classism, or any other ism these hip post-racial folk would never dream of being a part of! 
 Another odd thing about this is they are even sensitive to white on white racism i.e. they don't much care for terms like pollock, mick, dago, etc. They also get upset over sweeping generalizations about nationalities.  For the life of me.I can't understand why!
 So I've decided to be casually racist more often in my day to day life. I'll say things like; "Nah I don't wanna eat there with all those loud eyetalians." Or "Isn't that place where the damn Romanians hang out?" Furthermore, I will take every opportunity possible to insult more nationalities based on old stereotypes. I will call the British incestuous organ eating ghouls. I will point out how strange it is the Scandinavians like to have pagan orgies in the woods.
Overly sensitive white people will get offended by this, and I'm ok with that. If someone gets genuinely offended by this sort of thing, I don't feel much in the way of sympathy just irritation. I forgot what the point to all this was...fuck being PC perhaps?

The Art of War: The National Veterans Art Museum in Chicago

Many people have taken to Instagram and in righteous indignation chastised a country for treating what should be a somber holiday and turning into an extravaganza of drunken gluttony. Their apparent goal is to remind the rest of us this holiday exists to honor the countless American military servicemen and women who died for something greater than themselves.
 Ok, fair enough. Selfless acts and people do deserve some recognition, but what many fail to realize is this day is a celebration of war the very thing that killed the people we're supposed to be mourning.
We cannot ask the dead about their experience in war. We cannot ask them if in their last moments they thought what they were supposedly fighting for was still worthwhile. This holiday exacerbates the symptoms of the disease of nationalism. It is a sickness that has claimed untold millions of lives.
The dead cannot speak, but those who survived war can still teach us quite a bit, and the way many veterans communicate the dark wisdom gained in war are communicating is through art.
The National Veterans Art Museum in portage park is a gallery made up of works created by war vets. The art was mostly produced in art therapy sessions. Art therapy is a way for veterans to articulate the internal torment the experience of war leaves with the people it destroys.
Pain awoke something in them, and they were able to find a new sense of purpose showing us the truth about war. Their art is inspired by their scars; it is an expression of their pain.
The fractured lives and shattered minds that made this art lift the veil of our denial. Viewers are forced to confront reality, and it is far different than the sanitized ego stroking romantic illusions of battle put forward in our culture.
The iconography of Death is heavily utilized in most of the pieces. War after all, is humanity's most death oriented endeavor. The hollowed eyes of skulls are painful reminders of extinguished human life.
There are a number of mediums on display, and there is not one that doesn't invoke a discomfort from the truth it forces on the eyes. Eyes that often have often never seen the human cost of war.
Each display tells of that cost; it is part of the artists story, it is a product of their struggle. Most importantly though it reminds us why it is important that we do not let this national holiday serve as a campaign to celebrate war.
We can really honor those who have fallen by learning from their deaths the ugly truth about war. War can only destroy. That is what it does.
 If we want to claim we care about veterans and those currently serving than the best thing we could do for them is not buy a yellow ribbon, hang a flag, or watch Saving Private Ryan. The best we could do is make sure no more lives are wasted on war.
http://www.nvam.org/#

Word of the Day!

PLEBISCITE
:  a vote by which the people of an entire country or district express an opinion for or against a proposal especially on a choice of government or ruler

This is a word I never once heard mentioned in any history or political science class I took at my wonderful accredited university, but it is still a word I think maybe worth knowing. Why is it worth knowing? Well, if you ask just about anyone at just about any point on the political spectrum in this country if they are happy with the way this little geopolitical entity is being managed chances are they would say no.

The strange consensus  seems to be "It's extremely flawed, but it's the best there is."  This is what you'll hear the further right you go and remarkably enough is often the same justification used by those who stuck in abusive relationships.

 Ok, so presumably people believe of all the current ways countries are being run the one in the United States produces the best results. Well, this is just patently untrue and can be proven so by just about every metric, so there's no need to bother really with this silly assumption. Something you often hear from people on the left is "People need to be governed by an elite because they don't know what is good for them." They will often tell you the most educated, i.e., the people who went to the most expensive schools should probably be making the decisions. It is about this time you will notice their degree from Columbia University.

 Ok so let's work off the premise people need rulers to guide them and this system of rule while far from perfect is preferable to any alternative. When decided whether or not something was successful it is important to look at the results. How do you think we're doing? Well without getting into exact figures surrounding issues like education, crime, etc. let's just look at a few decisions are oligarchic rulers have made over the years and think is this what we would have chosen?

Since the end of the second world war, another thing we can thank our oh so wise leaders for the United States and a handful of other countries have produced thousands of nuclear weapons. It may be worth noting the US, the self-proclaimed leader of the free world has produced, deployed, and used more of these weapons than any other nation that has acquired them to date. Is this something you and your family would have voted for, a doomsday arsenal? If you lived in the galactic empire, say on Tatooine would you have voted on the construction of the death star? No of course not because galactic empires don't make decisions based on popular consensus and neither does the US. Currently, about a trillion dollars worth of upgrades are scheduled for this arsenal. If Mr. Obama or Mr. Bush had asked you if this was a good idea, do you think you would have said yes?

What about fracking. Sure a modern society runs on energy and now seeing as how we seem to be scrapping the bottom of the barrel those in charge saw fracking as a good way to go. The problem for everyone else is it turned out this process poisons water supplies and causes otherwise rare cancers to develop in nearby residents. Of course none of the people who made this decision live anywhere nearby. Is this something you would have voted for? What about the economy. I know it's a mysterious interlocking web of forces no peasant can understand, but let's just use one example say the bailout.   Hundreds of billions or perhaps even trillions of dollars was handed over to people who destroyed the retirement savings of millions of peoples, wiped out the college funds of just as many, and are now curiously holding cities all across the countries hostage by way of debt bonds. How about that is that something you your friends and family wold have decided is best? So those are the results of this social experiment thus far. Our wise leaders, those apparently who are the only ones fit to lead have set us up for nuclear Armageddon, environmental collapse and have bankrupted us while doing it. So again plebiscite maybe a word worth knowing, but then again probably not as my opinion doesn't matter and neither do of any of yours.

Thank God

I'm friends with a lot of people who at least profess to be Christian. So it always confuses me when I see these people thanking God for the things they have or asking God for more. I'm not exactly a biblical scholar but from what I've read God rarely does favors for people he's taken an active interest in. If God's talking to someone it's more often than not to make a demand and often it won't be something good for that person's health. Your typical conversation with God seems to go something like this:
God: I want you to give up all your stuff and go tell those pagans about me.
believer: All my stuff?
God: Yes all of it.
Believer: Including the house and farm?
God: Especially the house and farm.
Believer: Ok and you want me to tell the pagans to drop what they're doing and worship you?
God: Exactly
Believer: They might react poorly to that
God: Not really my problem, but hey there's a fifty-fifty chance I'll get you out of whatever trouble you get into.
Then it's only a matter of time before said person is executed, fed to lions, stoned to death, or made a slave. So if you're thanking God for your most recent raise, closing on your house, your kid's good grades, a recent gig, or anything else chances are God probably had nothing to do with any of that. If you knew what was good for you, you'd try and stay off his radar.

We Will Rock You!

People are warning the poor misguided demonstrators; people they see as having no idea why they are on the streets but who are always happy to break something may end up destroying the city! Ok, a few windows have been smashed and a building or two burnt, but just how worse off is the city? Well according to a recent WAVE study poor children in Baltimore are about as well off as children in Nigeria if that gives you an idea of what the city was like before these "riots" broke out. This has worked out well though for John Hopkins University as it needs a steady supply of cheap labor to run the cafeteria and maintain the campus for their more privileged students
Don't worry though they occasionally mention feeling bad for them in their sociology classes. It seems strange though Baltimore would be in this kind of a condition. It's a major port city on the east coast and apparently a major manufacturing center. Oh, no let me rephrase that. It WAS a major manufacturing center. So what happened? Well according to Wikipedia the factories left and the city went into a six-decade spiral of decline.
 So its the same old story. Massive joblessness leading to stunted social mobility, leading to hopelessness, leading to desperation leading to crime, etc.  Not to worry though Baltimore has experienced a revitalization now that it has transitioned into a "service economy!" So the waterfront real estate is doing just fine, the University is doing just fine, the rest of the city well see Nigeria. In summation if you're worried about a few rocks destroying Baltimore you probably need to pick up a few books on neo-liberal economics