Battle For The Planet Of The Dupes

The problem with Trump, at least from my point of view as expressed since the long-ago days of July last year, is that he is a walking corporation.  He is a creature of the State.  He has no existence nor worth outside the coddling arms of the State.  He exists by the pleasure of the State, and the State is his nanny and toy.

Now I know a lot of Trump supporters read this site.  That was clear long ago and far away in our Far Side Official Unscientific Survey, where more than 70% of respondents chose Trump over all other choices (Hillary and Johnson).  So I beg you indulgence to hear me out.

Yes, Trump was elected by a certified, all-genuine rebellion.  Not a revolution, mind you, because the State was left intact.  But enough people had had enough State shenanigans that they were willing to try out a complete new-comer in the presidency in the hopes that 1) Hillary would NOT get elected, and 2) something fundamental would change at the national level.

Sorry to say, and I've waited the obligatory six months of mourning to say this, but America got gypped.

Notice that all of Trump's major promises, and his actions after he broke them, serve only the corporate interests.  To whit: the border wall has all but disappeared to preserve the constant supply of fresh meat for the labor market - which keeps the unions at bay.  Notice that the tax reform (now defunct) was centered primarily on corporate relief.  Notice that healthcare reform (now defunct) was to make the whole Obamacare fiasco even more friendly for the corporations.  Notice that the Pentagon budget and global saber-rattling was continued, even ramped up from the Obama and Bush days, to feed the bottomless gullet of the corporations.  Need more?

Them notice that Freeport MacMoRan, a huge mining corporation that all but owns Indonesia, was in the grips of populist reform and stalemated at the negotiating table at the beginning of the year.  Further notice that Mike Pence (Vice Prez of USA, Inc.) made a quick little visit to these parts and within hours, Freeport had their concessions.

Or how about the much vaunted Trump Saudi trip, which ended with billions in arms sales, and even defense contractors with subsidiary agreements in the Middle East to save shipping costs.

Finally, notice that all the talk of reform for regulations and government oversight center solely on corporations.  Have you heard a single word promising less government sitting on the shoulders of real human beings, who theoretically are the government in any real republic.

If you STILL doubt where Trump's loyalties lie, then I implore you to read Peter Dale Scott's insightful piece on how Trump is a threat to Indonesia's (and many other countries') democracy.

I, for one, could care less if Trump is impeached, though what would follow would likely be far worse than anything those of us who remember the JFK coup remember.  As I have said repeatedly, the only way to fix the problem is to remove it.  No amount of "reform" will ever achieve freedom and liberty for us real folks.

Here's the deal.  We humans are natural, organic beings with priorities and interests that don't always, if ever, align with the State.  The State fears our privacy and rights.  It doesn't want chaotic creatures running loose mucking up its Grand Plans for itself and its creations.

And when it comes to creations, there is only one creature in the world that is completely and utterly beholden to the State, and that is the corporation.

Corporations are formed (born) by a union of law and enforcement.  The State literally creates these creatures and is fully responsible for their behavior.  When the State is fully in control of the corporations, you have Socialism.  When the corporations are fully in control of the State, you have Fascism.  Note well that real, organic human beings don't figure into this marriage from Hell in any way, except for the rare few who are granted big pay packets for being caretakers of both the State and corporations.

Out of loyalty to theirs parents, corporations protect and defend the State.  Out of motherly love, the State protects and defends the corporations.  It is a sick, twisted relationship that has none of our (us real people) interests at heart.

This is why there is a revolving door between corporate interests and State regulatory divisions.  This is why corporate officers never go to jail, just get their wrists slapped and a fine or two.  This is why governments are unresponsive to real people.  This is also why there is a long list of billionaires in government and on the visitors list, not just now, but ever since the late 1800s.

For the last eight years, the Socialists were in charge and corporations were kept on a leash, though a rather long one.  Now, the Fascists are in control, and not only is the leash longer, but the collar has been loosened to allow the corporations to slip their fat heads through and run wild in the neighborhood.

Trump is nothing more than a flim-flam man who understood show business well enough to basically steal the election from the heir apparent, who stole it herself from her own party.  Even the parties are corporations that run in the interest of corporations in order to be seated at the Board Room Table of the US Corporation.

Unfortunately, there is no reforming this mess.  It is far to gone and far to woven into the fabric of the modern world.  The only hope is for real people to once again asset their dominion over the creature they created, called government.

There's only one problem.  The corporations have so polluted our water and food with chemicals to keep us dumb and sick that I have little hope this will ever happen.

Trump was a fluke.  Enough people had enough sense left to try to "reform" the mess.  It will never happen again.  There are only two routes open to us now: the way of complete destruction of the State as it exists, or complete capitulation of real people to artificial corporations (legal fictions called "persons").

Honestly, I don't expect much effort in the right direction.

Thought Police Invade The Far Side

Akun Facebook pribadi saya dinonaktifkan.

• Bantuan Desktop
• Bantuan Ponsel Fitur
• Pusat Bantuan Lainnyatab menu tambahan
• shareBagikan Artikel
• Jika akun Facebook Anda dinonaktifkan, Anda akan melihat pesan khusus apabila Anda mencoba masuk ke akun Anda.
• Kami mnonaktifkan akun Facebook yang tidak mengikuti Ketentuan Facebook. Beberapa contohnya termasuk:
• Mengirim konten yang tidak mengikuti Ketentuan Facebook
• Menggunakan nama palsu
• Berpura-pura menjadi seseorang
• Tetap berperilaku yang tidak diizinkan di Facebook dengan melanggar Standar Komunitas kami
• Kontak dengan orang lain untuk tujuan pelecehan, periklanan, promosi, kencan, atau perilaku lainnya yang tidak diizinkan
• Jika Anda yakin akun Anda dinonaktifkan karena kekeliruan, harap mengajukan banding.
• Catatan: Jika Anda tidak melihat pesan penonaktifan ketika Anda mencoba masuk ke akun, Anda mungkin mengalami masalah masuk. Harap kunjungi pusat bantuan kami untuk bantuan masuk ke akun Anda.

I am proud to announce that - somehow - I have offended the Farcebook gods and have been cut off.  This must be a first for a non-terrorist site in Indonesia, since it is highly unusual for Indonesians to express politically-incorrect opinions.

Perhaps it was my ceaseless ridicule of Farcebook and its annoying thieving plagiarist owner, Mark Puckerberg.  I quite enjoy trashing the owner using his own product.

Like all fascist swine, though, they never tell you exactly what you did wrong.  Instead, they present a list of possible infractions and let your guilty conscience project its own sin onto the list.  This is a hallmark of Fascism, as any reader of Kafka will immediately understand.  The System makes an entire range of activities illegal, so that any given person and any given time has violated any given law.  Thus, you can be punished arbitrarily for any given infraction without ever being told exactly what you did wrong.

No great loss.  I have, or rather had, five Farcebook pages for various purposes.  The loss of one or another makes little difference, though it did provide an audience that I didn't reach with this blog or Twitter of YouTube.  Since I receive no revenue from my efforts on any of the outlets, the loss of one does nothing to hurt me.  One of the many reasons I chose not to monetize my efforts and become dependent on a revenue stream controlled by fascists.  Exhibit A: the YouTube producers who have had their legs cut off.

This kind of abuse and fascistic attempt to control free and unhindered speech is precisely why outlets like 4chan are so popular.  The poster is anonymous and there is no way to trace anything back to a source, and all posts eventually disappear of their own accord, so there is no history.  In this Kafka-esque world, it makes perfect sense, though in a sane world, anyone should be able to post anything under their own name and let the marketplace/peers judge the value of the content.

Puckerberg and his ilk like to call themselves the new media, but in effect they are nothing but an evolution of the gatekeepers of yore.  They sit atop their little ant hills, proudly controlling everything that goes in and out of their nest.  This is nothing but the high school group leader writ incredibly large.  They will set the standard for what is cool and acceptable, and if you want to stay in the group, you had better follow.

I am sure something will eventually happen to our Twitter account, as well.  Followers have shot up 25% just in the last week, probably due to the fact that we post news links combined with a healthy dose of sarcasm and satire.  The only real way to fight the bastards is to laugh at them.  It is the one thing they fear the most, because they take themselves far too seriously.

Eventually, these outlets tie themselves in knots of political correctness.  Take YouTube, for instance.  Advertisers complained that their ads were running against content they didn't like.  YouTube cut off the advertising stream, and suddenly no one - YouTube, advertisers or producers - were getting paid.  After all, the advertisers pay for eyeballs, and if the number of eyeballs drops precipitously, then what's to pay for?

The net effect was to strengthen the producers, who were forced to find their own advertisers and get crowd funding direct from consumers (see our Patreon link top right).  The entrepreneurial individuals are now beholden only to their consumers and direct advertisers, making them out of reach to the fascists, except to cancel accounts.

By the way, we are proud to say Google demonetized us six years ago, long before the current wave.  We were, and still are a leader in pissing off the powers that be.

The problem with things like political correctness is that, once you begin telling folks that they can't say certain things, the list will always continue to grow, until no one can say anything.  After all, we have all met folks who get offended by the simplest pleasantries.  Look at Ebeneezer Scrooge!

In the meantime, we do well to remember the immortal words of Henry David Thoreau:

"There are thousands hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root."

And the fight goes on.

Uber Alles

In order to make today's point, we need to clarify a couple of definitions.

Socialism is when a small number of elite control government (oligarchs), which in turn controls the corporations and the means of production.

Fascism is when a small number of elite control the corporations (oligarchs), which in turns controls government and the means of production.

A Republic is a limited government whose sole purpose is to protect the individual from overzealous government and corporate power by protecting a core set of rights for every human being.

A Democracy is little more than formalized anarchy, where rights are really privileges that can be voted away, and even the right to vote depends on the will of the majority.

These are the primary forms of government in use today, and even though the words are used interchangeably to obfuscate their real meanings and hide inconvenient truths about the nature of individual governments, the definitions are basically what you will find with a bit of research.

This leads us to an article about Uber's recent loss in UK courts, requiring it to treat drivers as employees rather than contractors, and thus Uber must pay minimum wage and offer the standard set of benefits.

Many people will cheer this decision, as it seems to protect the drivers and make their lives better, but there's a problem here.  The right to contract is a foundational concept of free societies.  If I sign a contract with another entity agreeing to certain benefits and responsibilities, the government's job in a republican society is to protect my contract, regardless of what anyone else thinks about the terms.  After all, I was free to negotiate those terms and to accept or refuse to contract based on my perception of the costs and benefits to me.

In a free republic, government's sole purpose is to adjudicate disputes between contracting parties when one side believes the other has not lived up to the terms and conditions set forth in the contract.  Otherwise, government has no interest in the contract and cannot intervene or change the conditions agreed to by the parties.

In fascist and socialist states, the government retains the right to amend or cancel contracts that do not protect the government's interests.  The main difference between the two is whether the corporate interests or the State benefit from this arrangement.  In other words, the State is an assumed third party in every contract.  Obviously, this is an assault, no matter how subtle, on the rights and liberties of the individual.

A hallmark of fascist states is the ability to corporate interests to use government power to tilt the playing field in favor of their interests.  Regulations and enforcement are heavily biased to protect the oligarchs from competition.  A socialist state is basically the same, except the State itself is the beneficiary of the control.

Putting it "country simple," if your country has a lot of state-owned corporations, you live in a socialist state.  If your country has a lot of public-private partnerships, you live in a fascist state.

The Uber article sums up the situation thusly:

• Uber claims drivers are self-employed - but courts do not agree with them
• Drivers brought legal action against private hire firm in row over their pay
• They claimed they should get the minimum wage, holiday pay and breaks
• Uber said they were self-employed and should manage their own finances
• But Central London Employment Tribunal ruled in favour of Uber drivers

You can cheer the drivers' victory if you choose, but what this makes quite clear is that the UK is likely a socialist/fascist state.

First of all, the courts should have adjudicated the terms of the contract.  The drivers read and agreed to perform certain services in exchange for certain compensation.  One assumes these terms were clearly spelled out in the contracts and that the drivers knowingly entered into contract knowing these terms.  If they were not happy with the terms, they were free to renegotiate the terms, or to set up competing businesses that offered more equitable terms.  If the drivers did not have the financial means to set up a competing business by themselves, they could have banded together to pool resources, and thus become owners of the new entity.

Alas, this was not to be.  Instead of pursuing the capitalist route, the drivers banded together to sue Uber, and the courts upheld their complaint and forcefully broke the private contract in a way that favored existing, State-licensed corporations.  Assuming those existing corporations are private entities and not State-owned, then we are looking at pure fascism.

Uber, whose business model followed the right of individuals to freely contract, was forced to accept regulations that act as a barrier to competition from upstart companies.  The oligarchs of the establishment had set up a system that placed additional cost barriers on new competitors to prevent a loss of market share to better operations and ideas.  Since the oligarchs likely control both the corporations and the financial resources, they effectively tilt the playing field in their favor.  By controlling government regulations, they add a layer of backup protection by making government restrictions a firewall of burden to new competitors.

This adds one more definition to our list: the so-called Third Way, which completes the evil Trinity of State-Corporate-Finance control over markets and competition.  This marriage made in Hell effectively eliminates private initiatives and entrepreneurship, in favor of a protectionist racket surrounding the core of elite oligarchs.

The Third Way is precisely what we see in place in countries such as the US and UK, and which scandals like the Clinton Email are revealing in rather dramatic fashion.  Also known as Mercantilism, the bond of finance, production and regulation creates the perfect barrier to outsiders, the right of the individual to contract, and the ability of new competitors to enter the market.  Control of finance prevents upstarts from getting funding.  If they pass that barrier, then onerous regulations and biased courts favor the establishment over the new guy.  No matter which way you turn, if you aren't part of the club, you ain't gonna play.

I am a big fan of Uber, AirBnB and other similar new-tech companies that use the internet to circumvent the Big Boys and State Regulatory barriers to produce truly capitalistic enterprises.

Sure you hear a lot of criticism and fear-mongoring about these types of operations and how they run circles around the Old Guard and their rules.  What you are really hearing, though, are the established interests complaining that they are losing money because they didn't think of it first.  However, this is an essential part of true capitalism: new ideas and entrepreneurs bring fresh and more efficient operations to market, and the Old Guard (oligarchs) must evolve or die.

When you hear folks pushing internet controls, what you are really hearing are the oligarchs screaming that their territory is being eaten away by faster, leaner operations that they can't control.

In the end, the Uber court case here is an example of the oligarchs using government power to protect their profits.  Pure and simple.  It is a naked example of Socio-Fascism in action.  Uber made it past the financial and regulatory barriers, so the last line of defense was simply to negate private contracts in favor of the ruling paradigm.

Viewed in this way, suddenly all the headlines make sense and can be boiled down into some aspect of this model.  The Clinton-Trump election represents two sides of the Unholy Triad (government and industry) vying for control of the Federal Reserves (finance).  The Uber case, and others like it, represent the battle of entrepreneurs to break into the Inner Circle's protected playground.  The court decisions are the last line of defense for the oligarchs, since there are no higher authorities to whom one can appeal.

And while the Big Picture allows us to see the machinations of the oligarchs at work, it doesn't give us any surcease of anxiety.  Fundamentally, the entire system is rigged from top to bottom, no matter which route your local government has gone.  It is incredibly hard to find any extant example of true capitalism at work in the world, except in the virtual realm of the internet, and what we see there is a slow but panicked attempt by the Unholy Triad to take over control of that outlet, as well.

This is the battleground on which GlobalRev is being played out.  From this point of view, we can see the various sides lobbing grenades and skirmishing over front lines.  The Old Guard have pulled out all the stops to maintain their hammerlock on markets, and ultimately your labor and wealth, that they have had since at least the Middle Ages.  East (BRICSA) battles West (EU/UK/US).  Old Economy battles New Economy.  Establishment battles Entrepreneur.

Bottom line?

Only the individual asserting his/her right to contract and taking responsibility for his/her choices and decisions will ultimately destroy the Old World Order.

To Serve Blindly

I have been very lucky in my life to have developed a number of very close and long-lasting friendships.  The wonderful thing about many of my friends is that we have radically different thoughts and beliefs on a number of normally hot topics, and occasionally tempers have flared, but we have managed to push on past our differences.  It does make for some rather interesting arguments (in the Aristotelian sense).

One good friend in particular is very pro-military and thinks everyone should support the troops.  We get into long passionate debates because I hold that every US soldier since WW2 has violated their oath and does not deserve my support, no matter what they have given "for their country."  For the non-Americans out there, US public servants (military included) takes an oath to "protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."  That Constitution specifically states that Congress cannot fund a standing army more than two years (Art.I, Sec.8, Sub.12), and that the President becomes the Commander in Chief only when Congress passes a Declaration of War and authorizes the funding to raise an army (Art.I, Sec.8, Sub.11 and Art.II, Sec.2).

Apparently, none of the individuals who swore to protect and defend the Constitution ever read it.

At any rate, my friend posted a graphic on Farcebook the other day stating that the US should require/conscript young people into the armed services or some public service for a period of time, as many countries do.  Well this set off a debate (again), since I pointed out that the power to conscript people into some public service implies that the State owns the citizen and can force one to sacrifice for the betterment of the State.

My friend's reasoning was emotional.  He decried the lack of investment young people had in the country and thought that forcing them into the military or public service would give them a feeling of ownership in the country, as well as instill a little discipline.

I understand his reasoning and his frustration.  Many people lament the lack of patriotism and volunteerism in many of the country's youth now.  There is a diminishing feeling of solidarity and the Kennedy-inspired concept of asking "what you can do for your country" has all but evaporated.  I argued that this was the wrong way to go about recapturing that spirit.

In the first place, it is rather difficult for a country to call itself free if the State can conscript men and resources at will.  This is a form of servitude that bears a significant resemblance to slavery.  I do not think any State has any interest in or right to any life or property that is not freely given.  Forced volunteerism is a complete oxymoron.  It is like a "voluntary" tax system that is enforced with grievous bodily harm.

I have no problem with community service, so long as it is truly voluntary and does not benefit the State, but rather the communities and culture directly, though I have no implicit problem with the State administering the systems and processes needed to guide and focus the efforts.

Among other things, a standing army and forced conscription are hallmarks of fascism.  Raising and maintaining an army gives the State the power to make war at will, either on foreign powers or its own people.  That the money to pay for the army comes from money commandeered from the citizenry makes for a deadly loop where the army is an implied threat to backup the confiscation of wealth.

Had the US government not had a standing army, it would have been significantly more difficult to prosecute wars in Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan.  There are few people who could, in good conscience, argue that any of those wars were for pure and righteous reasons.  That all were fought against "enemies" who had never attacked the US, nor did they have the means to, further condemns them as little more than mercantile protectionism.  Obviously, when the powers and resources of the State are put into service of the corporate and financial interests, you have - by definition - fascism.

That corporations have invaded nearly every aspect of daily life, from birth to death, it is reasonable to assume that a forced public service would quickly be turned to slave labor on behalf of those interests, increasing their profits at the expense of the public freedom and welfare.

Even the most idealistic programs, when supported by a fascist State, are often turned to the benefit of the corporate interests.  Prime examples are the increasingly powerful corporations that have virtually taken over the education system, from kindergarten to university.  That the State sanctions, protects and requires things like standardized testing and "Common Core," this is exactly fascism in practice.

It has been said many times that American fascism would come with red, white and blue boots stamping on the People's faces, and indeed it has.  For someone as smart and thoughtful as my friend, the fact that he can seriously support such a fascist effort means that the indoctrination is complete.  People are not even aware of the profound contradictions in what they say and believe.  They can, with a straight face, claim to be free people, and yet propose and promote corporate slavery through the auspices of the State.

I pick on the one friend, but I have others that are pure socialists, but will vehemently deny it even in the face of hard evidence.  On the one hand, these friends will crow long and loud about how free and wonderful America is, and then turn right around and advocate fascist/socialist programs and laws.  It is truly amazing to see, and the fire - even anger - with which they will deny the facts and adhere to their errors shows the pervasive and profound depths of the indoctrination.  These educated and intelligent people cannot comprehend the contradictions.

It should be noted that the difference between fascism and socialism are so subtle as to be almost meaningless.  It is an argument of hues in the same palette.  Whether the State acts as the protectionist arm of corporate interests, or is the sole beneficiary of the nation's output hardly makes much difference at the level of the individual.  In either case, the labor and wealth of the individual are stolen and distributed to others.  The only difference is who constitutes "the others."

I agree that citizens are responsible for the defense of their property.  If every citizen were armed and trained on a regular basis as part of a social requirement enforced by the community and one's family, there would be no need for a standing army, police or any of the other trappings of force owned by the State.

If Dad told Junior that college assistance depended on Junior training once a month with the local mitia or guard, no harm no foul.  Having armed agents forcefully take your money and your children through conscription, though, is nothing more than slavery to the State, dressed up in patriotism and flags.

It seems that thinking people should take inventory and begin questioning their assumptions and beliefs, especially in these rather turbulent times.  Blind patriotism, no matter how well intended, is a potent weapon in the hands of a corrupt State.  It is also necessary for thinking people to begin analyzing the reasons they believe certain things, and to reason out the inevitable results.  It is not enough to spout feel-good rhetoric any more.  The world is changing and we need to be precise about the kind of world we wish to build going forward.

Will we be free?  Or will we continue to serve the State and vested interests?

One can't change the world if one is not sure what is being changed, and to what it will be changed.

La Violación

Kinda scary...but for once I agree with Donald Trump.  Someone take my temperature QUICK!

Regular readers here will know that I have some serious issues with Mr. Trump, not the least of which is that I don't trust anyone that refers to himself in the third person (in English, anyway).  I don't deny that he has exceptional business skills and in another life, he was likely a carnival barker.  However, I have grave reservations about his ability to convert those skills to a job that requires tact and diplomacy.  These, I think, are in rare supply in his personality toolbox.

That said, I agree with his nationalist impulses.  While I am one of the most diverse people I know, I also think that every culture should have a homeland that preserves and propagates those things which make every culture unique.  You see, though I enjoy many cultures and have learned a lot about them, I also think there needs to be a Texas for Texans, a Germany for Germans, and a China for Chinese.

I think everyone has the right to preserve and protect their unique culture.  God knows I jump through enough hoops living in a foreign country, both legally and culturally, but if I want to, I think I should have a "homeland" to go back to (or at least visit).  By "homeland," I do NOT mean those bozos and their ilk who infest airports and other public facilities across the US.

Where all of this rambling is going is to the point of Trump's joust with judge Gonzalo "Cielo" Curiel.  Seems the good judge is a member of the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association.  Just so you know, the "la raza' part means THE RACE, as in (with these yodels) the Aztec race.

There are so many things wrong with this lawsuit, I hardly know where to begin.  One thing I am quite sure of is that La Raza is a deeply, profoundly, radically, nastily racist organization.  I don't care how many fancy words, like 'lawyer' and 'association' you put around it, La Raza is RACIST.

I have first-hand experience with these numbnuts.  They formed a political party back in the 60s in Texas, and I crossed paths with them many times while campaigning with my dad.  Thinking I was ignorant of Spanish (a mistake many people make giving me plenty of ammo when I need it), they always referred to me as "guero," which is slang for "white boy."

La Raza is, for all intents and purposes, the Latino version of National Socialists, or Nazis for short.  They believe in this mythical pipe-dream called Atzlan, which was a legendary place even to the Aztecs that was just 'out there' somewhere, waving a casual hand in the direction of North America.

These La Raza tea-baggers, though, actually believe that Atzlan was a real place and that they are going to reclaim it, waving a casual hand in the direction of the US Southwest.  Just like the Nazis, these putzes have convinced themselves that Azlan, like Valhalla, is their 'homeland' and that it needs to be reclaimed.

Reclaimed from their hashish-fueled fantasies.

All of this comes even before we start noticing that the prosecutor in the lawsuit is a member of La Raza, and that these bean-suckers also donated HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of DOLLARS to Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Like I said, there are so many things wrong with this case, it's like an onion with matching aroma that makes your eyes water.

I don't give a rat's patoot what color, race, creed, religion, or any other divisive group you care to use that you are, if you call yourself "The Race" and you seek to eradicate people who live in your imaginary 'homeland' that never existed, you are a racist fool at best, and an slime-sucking jerk-wad at worst.  As for Judge "Cielo," take your pick from that spectrum.

I have no idea what is up with Trump "University," but I guarantee that I would never have paid thousands of dollars to be a part of it.  And even if I did, guess what?  Buyer beware.  If there was fraud involved, I am sure that would have come out in a FAIR trial, but what we see here is a railroading, and I abhor the whole things, I don't care if it's Trump or Joe Blow.

The fact remains that La Raza is equal to the KKK, or the Nazis, or the Black Panthers, or any other racist group you care to name.  I don't truck with any other them, and they have no place in a civilized society.

But maybe that's at the heart of the situation.  Civilization itself is, and has been for some time, in decline.  I don't agree that what the Europeans did to North America was right in any way, but one doesn't fight racism with more racism.  And one certainly doesn't claim to want to restore some mythical lunacy like Aztlan.  Sorry boys, but there are/were lots of other native nations in the US Southwest that would/will take issue with your claims, beginning with the Lipan Apache, Comanche, Hopi and Navajo.  Your little La Raza fantasy can go suck lemons.

I'm all for Trump, or anyone else, getting a fair trial, such as they exist in the US.  This kind of deck stacking is inexcusable and so blatantly motivated by a serial criminal trying to cover her own tracks, not to mention the glaring racism coming to bear.

When/if Killary ever comes to trial, I would/will raise the same complaint if the judge and prosecutor are members of the Greater Minnesota Misogynist Association of America, Inc.  As much as I'd like to see that...er, person rot in jail, the trial should at least have the IMAGE of propriety.  This Trump circus isn't even trying to hide the complete lack of impartiality.

Lest you have any remaining doubts about the fascist leanings of La Raza, remember that the American version grew out of Franco's Spain, and when it transferred to the Americas, evolved into an anti-Spaniard movement to rid Mexico of the "invaders."  The problem is, you look at a photo of Judge "Cielo" and you will see that he is most definitely NOT a Zapata native.  He is a Spaniard...a white boy...a guero.  He is a slimy enemy even to himself.  He is the worst kind of racist - one who can't figure out which race he is or which he wants to fight.

I know nothing about Trump but what I read in the papers.  But I do know first hand that La Raza is a nasty, racist, fascist organization that should be publicly castigated and the whole monkey trial thrown out or moved to a somewhat more circumspect-appearing circus ring.

Now I need a smoke to calm down.

The Smoke Rings Of My Mind

Let's see...where were we?  Obviously, we've slept since the last post, and well, at our advanced age, things just kind of slip away.  Oh yes, we were on about the election here.  You might want to sit down for today's post, because it's going to be all over the place and we don't want you to get dizzy and fall down on the mass-people-mover.

So, the winner was Jokowi (a.k.a., the white hats)...or was it?  After the July 9th election, the margin was apparently so close that the black hats made a fuss and wouldn't concede, so we all had to wait until July 22, when the KPU (national election authority) announced their final count.  Well, that came down on the side of the white hats with 53% to 46%.  But that didn't satisfy the black hats either, though they promised they would accept the KPU's count.  So they threatened to burn down the country (like good patriots do when they lose) because of "massive fraud" in the system.  Of course, they should know, they were behind a lot of it.

Anyway, the black hats announced on 22 July that they were disgusted with the KPU and were pulling out of the election, which was more or less conceding the count.  Then on 23 July, the campaign announced that "quitting" wasn't really what they meant...they were pulling out of the counting process - two hours before the official announcement - because of "massive fraud and corruption".  In other words, that count didn't go in their favor either.  So now they are filing an appeal with the Indo Constitutional Court, the highest court in the land, alleging "massive fraud" in the system.

Oh, they also filed a police report alleging that various election agencies "lost" thousands of pages of "evidence" of that self-same "fraud".  Gee, they just don't have all that "evidence" because a government agency "lost" it, your honor, but take their word for it...lots of "fraud".

What's really going on is that the ruling oligarchs and military-industrial complex that have run Indonesia for decades lost fair and square to a populist reformer furniture-maker, who grew up in the slums of Yogyakarta and rose up through the ranks to become Indonesia's seventh president.  It's akin to the Bush Clan losing complete control of America, and the Bushes threatening to destroy the country because of it.

Fun to watch.

Meantime, a group named after an Egyptian goddess (Isis), who was the model for the Virgin Mary (look it up), has taken a chunk of Iraq, is trying to take Syria, has likely taken Libya, and currently has a bunch of (white) folks here in Indonesia recruiting.  We mention the "white" part, because these are Europeans, not Semitics, who are recruiting for ISIS.  We'll let you make up your own scenario on how all that works.  We have a pretty good idea.

Also in the past month that we've been actually doing productive stuff and taking a well-earned vacation at the Far Side World Headquarters - Java Branch (FSWHJB), another Malaysian airliner went walkies.  Yup, that makes TWO planes from the Malaysian national airline - a country that tried and convicted George W. Bush of war crimes in Iraq.  See previous comments.

This brings up some interesting thoughts, too.  We know what you are thinking, "Oh God, here he goes again."

Have you noticed over the past few years the globs of experts that seem to all die in clumps?  First, there were the microbiologists, then bankers, then Chinese IT experts (Malasia 1) and finally HIV/AIDS experts (Malaysia 2).  If you're one of those people that likes math and statistics, which we don't, then please calculate the odds and send us the result.  Please show your work, even though we wouldn't have a clue how to check it.

The first two groups have all be suicided in rather interesting ways - nails and bullets to the back of the head and so on - while the latter two groups have all been snuffed by the same airline with one plane vanishing off the face of the Earth and the other being shot down over a war zone.  Don't forget to add those events into your calculations.  There also seems to be a smell of relatedness about the groups, in that microbiologists and HIV experts, and bankers and IT experts, all seem to fit into a strange looking puzzle just so.

We figure the odds are like trillions to one, or impossibly random, but we don't trust our math - that's your job, remember?

While all this was going on, there was this event called the World Cup, of which we watched all of exactly zero minutes of, as usual.  It was held in Brazil and attended (conspicuously) by high-ranking officials from the BRICS nations, and their wanna-bes (Germany and Argentina).  Notice too how the wanna-bes were the two finalists.  More calculations from the math-savvy folks out there?  The finalists also happened to be the two countries from where the last two popes were born.  click-click-click on the calculator...  We lump "coincidence" in with things like the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

While all this has been going on, Russia and China have been making new friends in far-away places and installing their own version of a kinder-gentler IMF and World Bank.  China's also been busy making currency-swap deals with a bunch of folks, including the very hub of Western banking - Switzerland.  In case you are history impaired, this is how the US dollar took over the world after WW2.  First, you hand piles of your paper to other countries, then sell them vital resources to build/rebuild their infrastructure all denominated in dollars.  We don't know about you, but we shifted all our two dollars in the FOREX market to renmimbi options.  But don't listen to us, we aren't "certified" money advisors, and we tend to do stupid stuff like sell all our stocks in 1999, and buy gold at $270/ounce, then sell it all at $1800/ounce to buy real estate for cash in the hinterlands.

Damn kooks we are.

Oh, did we mention the real estate has appreciated 50% or more in the past three years?

Big damn kooks.

Anyway, back to the Indonesian presidential elections.  Bet you hadn't noticed that WW2 is still being played out.  Yes, that's right, we're still fighting it.  On one side, we have the fascists who represent the very old New World Order, founded in the 1600s, and widely known as the British East India Company, symbolized by red and white stripes on their banners (look it up).  On the other side are the Socialists represented by solid, blood-red banners.  The former believe in corporations owning government, and the latter believe that government owns the corporations.

We, frankly, don't have truck with either side, since they both believe that own us.  We reserve that right to ourselves and our God, thank you very much.

So, that pesky election thing...

The black hats have their red-and-white coalition (look it up), and the white hats are all but Socialist in name, since they want to redistribute wealth through a variety of schemes and keep government firmly planted on top of the nation's resources and the companies that want them.  The two sides are at each others' throats, as they have been for the past century across multiple nations.  in fact, the world seems to be dividing quite nicely along a line that more or less follows the Prime Meridian through the Pacific Ocean, then turns down the Caucasus Mountains through Europe.  The Southern Hemisphere is still up for grabs, which is why the new pope is from Argentina and Africa is a corporate battleground.  And why the Indonesian elections were/are so important to those with half a mind given to free thinking.

Which brings us around to the "border crisis" in the US.  Bet you thought we'd never get to that, right?  But hey!  It took some setup to show how Indonesian elections, dying experts and financial shenanigans are all connected to Mexican/US borders...

What do you do when your Socialist ponzi scheme (commonly called Social Security) is going broke because the largest breeding festival in history is getting old and wants their money back?  Furthermore, what do you do when your arch enemies in the Eastern Hemisphere are making good friends on your southern flank by treating folks decently, rather than stomping on their faces with steel-shank boots?

Why, you throw open the border and allow millions of fresh new tax-payers come running in, who just happen to be from all those countries south of the equator that you've crapped on for nearly a century.  That way, they all have a vested interest in cozying up and keeping you safe from those evil BRICS folks, because - gosh - half your family lives up there, right?

Who's behind it?  Why those pesky corporations who want cheap labor at home to shore up the flagging economy in their back yards, and who want to raid the pensions for capital without causing too many shooting wars at home.  After all, if folks lose both their Social Security and their pensions, they're liable to get just a little irate.  At least they won't bite Uncle Sugar's hand if he's handing out welfare checks.  The corporations can always shift their execs to overseas offices, but it's kind of hard to move politicians.

Everybody wins!

Except us, of course.

Thowing Sabot At Windmills

Lately, folks around these parts (west Java) have been aggitating to raise the regional minimum wage (Indonesia doesn't have a national minimum - yet) to $500 per month.  Folks are complaining that they can't afford to live on the current wages, much like hte McWorkers in Detroit and elsewhere in the States.  Of course, without a little deep thought, and perhaps a degree in economics, those same folks don't realize that they are the ones creating the problem in the first place.

You see, when you increase the minimum wage, then employers have to increase the cost of their products, which ultimately gets passed on to the consumer, and the consumer is who?  Why the folks bemaning the higher wages.  It's an endless circle jerk in which the protesters ultimately are screwing themselves and thinking that things will get better with a little more money in the pocket.  A 20% wage increase=20% higher prices=back where you started.

A similar problem is automation.  Folks just love all those machines doing the hard work, not thinking that they are celebrating their own demise.  A labor-saving device is a human replacement, so while you have dreams of sitting on the beach while your personal robot does the job, the reality is that you are unemployed and can't afford to go to the beach, while your machine is doing fine work at little cost to the 'employer' - no sick leave, no hangovers, no bad hair days, no raises, no health care, etc.

A number of nations are in the midst of immigration 'reform', being sold as the humane thing to do for all those poor folks streaming across the borders.  What no one seems to realize is that those folks are taking all the jobs at half the price and they could care less about rights and benefits, as long as the money comes in. It all started in World War 2. With all the men off to war, the factories filled up with women. Aided by captialists whose only care was the bottom line, feminist organizations latched onto women in the workplace. Thus, the workforce doubled in one fell swoop. With the returning soldiers competing with career women, salaries dropped over time. Then lax immigration laws and enforcement tripled the workforce and salaries/bargaining power got cut again. Rising minimum wages meant that prices kept going up roughly equal to the rise in base pay, so even though everyone had more zeros in the bank, the buying power was the same. Then came robots and humans could be replaced altogether, so that there was no bargaining power left. Oh sure, it all sounded so reasonable. Everyone thought they were at the top of the feed pile. They were all for automation and immigration, because as managers they could show the bosses increased productivity, lower costs and higher profits. In the meantime, the water kept rising. First, the hourly workers, then the line managers, then middle managers. Now it's hitting upper managers, so that the only ones left standing will be the executives who are part of the Good Old Boy club. But that won't last either. Sooner than later, all the wealth will be in 10 hands while the rest of the world wonders what the hell happened. We'll all be standing around watching the wonderous machines scurry back and forth without complain or holiday or flex time. But, there's the rub. You see, without jobs, we won't have money. Without money, there'll be no one to buy all the products made by machines. Eventually, every warehouse in the world will be full, stores will be shut and the planet will grind to a halt because the unbridled greed of a handful of people brought the economic world to its knees. The next revolution won't be against governments, but corporations - the entities that really run the world. Like the Dutch workers of the Industrial Revolution, folks will start throwing the modern equivalent of sabot (wooden shoes) into the machinery and a new word for sabotage will be born. It's inevitable. The Big Question is where will the capitalists run to this time. Before, they ran from Venice to Amsterdam, then London, and finally to New York. Now, there is only one place for them to run, and that's into orbit, which may explain all the companies vying to become space jockeys. In any event, we are replaying history once again. We let the financial genie out of the bottle once again, after having stuffed them back into the bottle so many times throughout the past several thousand years. One day, we the people will have to learn that greed and the interests of human beings are incompatible. With the advent of 3D printing, the last of the real, productive jobs are about to get deep-sixed. Soon we'll all be McWorkers in Detroit. Even the gee-whizz stories about 3D printing don't mention that without income, you can't buy the printers or the materials needed to operate them, and if you had that kind of money, who would you sell the products to - seeing as how all the rest of us are broke too? Solution? All the women quit work and go back to being housewives. It's not a disgrace, its a huge shot into the heart of the vulture capitalists. Citizen patrols of borders is another step. When government fails to do the job that it was constituted to do, then it falls to the people to take back the reins and git 'er done. Third, apply all labor laws as they stand today to all labor-replacing machines: forced shut-downs for two weeks a year, benefit equivalents, tax equivalents, etc. If the machines cost the same as real live people, then there's no benefit to replacing people. Finally, simply refuse to buy anything produced by major multi-national corporations. Buy local produce and dairy. Buy products from cottage industries. Support mom-and-pop outfits. None of this will ever happen. People are too lazy and greedy themselves, and too spoiled by instant gratification, to actually take their self-interests to the next level. When you're playing the game, though, you should at least know where the boundaries are. Changing the world ain't easy, but the alternative is even more painful and with far greater hazards. If you have to suffer, it's much better to control as many of the variables as you can. It makes the pain you suffer much more bearable. Am I anti-woman? No, but I think women run households much better than men. The point is to voluntarily cut the workforce in half, thus increasing our bargaining power overnight. Am I anti-immigration? Not at all. I'm an expat. But giving away the store by falling for the heart-string tugging stories about poor folks serves no one's interests. You lose your job and the other guy is exploited. Am I anti-business? Hell no! Just anti-destructive captialism. Those organizations that are destructive of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness must be brought to heel, just as any individual would be. The key to utopia is education, and guess which part of life the vultures control the most?

Space A-holes Must Die!

Let's stop calling them the PTB and elites.  After all, they are just low-life, greedy scum in 3-piece Armani suits.  I propose the term "A-holes," with a capital "A" to distinguish them from the run-of-the-mill, street variety of a-hole.

These A-holes have sabotaged yet another nation's space ambitions.  India's Mars probe, like so many before it, has been scuttled by the A-holes to prevent...what?  Well, that's the Big 64-dollar question, ain't it?

You see, ever since WW2 and the incredible technologies unleashed by German and Nazi research, these A-holes, who have squatted on humanity's collective head for centuries, have been pressing the space technology to establish their Empire of the Heavens.  These pernicious dogs actually fancy themselves as akin to the gods of ancient myth and they are determined to capture the sky realms for themselves and 'once again' take their place as gods of the Heavens.

What a load of crap, but the problem is the A-holes believe it, and they are willing to kill, maim and destroy anything to get what they want: a New World Order...only they won't be on the World they intend to Order.

Since the dawn of the Space Age, there seems to be a clear agenda that someone (the A-holes) wants to have complete and unltimate control over who gets there and what they can see and do.  An inordinate number of probes seem to fail that don't come from the A-hole military-industrial-financial complex.  The Russian Fobos-Grunt, the British Beagle and now the Indian Mars craft have failed, while the US rovers and orbiters don't seem to have any problem.

And no, I obviously don't buy a superior tech story, since US tech is all off the shelf in Mumbai, anymore.

We can add to the list all the Moon probes that seem to rile up the A-holes, especially when they get too near certain sensitive areas, like the manned landing sites.  One also gets the sense that there is a high-level (bunch of A-holes) sitting on top of any data that other countries manage to acquire.  Everything is just too well managed.

Heck, the BBC story on the Indian probe problems spends a lot of time quoting "unnamed sources" about what could be going on with the satellite.  Now just a doggone minute.  Why do people commenting on space probes need anonymity?  You mean folks can't speak openly about space exploration?  Unless, of course, it's an A-hole expert showing off his inside knowledge about what's really gone wrong with the machine.

Any more, it seems like good national policy to announce that you are sending a probe to Venus, and then announce your Mars intentions once you're safely inserted into a trans-martian orbit.  Declaring up front just looks like mechanical suicide, at this point.

As researchers such as Hoagland, Farrell and Dolan have pointed out, there is a distinct set of dots to connect that make a picture of a set of A-holes with an iron grasp on all things space.  There's also a strong case to be made by these and others that a secret space program exists that serves only the interests of the A-holes.

We can only conclude that the A-holes intend to (or have already) get off the planet, establish themselves as modern-day gods, and then start lobbing crap at us, like meteors and other fun stuff, for fun.  Oh, and while they're at it, they'll nuke us (Fukushima, Stuxnet), choke us (BP oil spill) and futz with our genes (GMOs) to see what they can do to return humanity to the Stone Age and back to slaves for the A-holes...not to mention the pure entertainment value of being gods and killing off a billion or so just for fun.  Kinda like the Sims.

So, are there really a bunch of A-holes who are trying to recreate the powers of the ancient gods and lord themselves over Mankind at our own expense?  I'd say the facts show yes.  I've just presented a tiny bit of the evidence - haven't mentioned the Norway seed bank, Project Blue Beam, crop circles, and the like.

What can we do?  First of all, acknowledge that they really are shitting on us.  Two, that they really are trying to make themselves gods.  And three, that they need their wings clipped in a Big Way.  If you want to see their wet dream, watch Star Trek into Darkness, only pretend that you are the natives about to be toasted by the volcano, rather than Kirk and McCoy.  That's how they see us and themselves.

What a bunch of A-holes.

Sing-A-Poor

Doa-Doa Perjalanan - Traveler's Prayer

SINGAPORE -- As you may have guessed by now, your intrepid reporter has trekked across the Java Sea to land on yet another island, though one considerably smaller than the one on which he dwells.

Lion Air provided the transportation, which was unremarkable (something most air travelers want) except for the amusing game of runway hopscotch at touchdown.  Fortunately, Lion provides for just such occasions by placing prayer books for six different faiths in the seat-back pocket.  I read all of them, being one who dislikes flying commercial, since I'm not the one making life and death decisions, especially when it comes to my own life and death.

Once inside the terminal at Changi Airport, you quickly realize that if there is any place on Earth you have to be Snowdened (c), this is it!  Cactus and butterfly gardens, shops and amusements, piano players at sundown, sleeping lounges, digital theaters, free internet, even a hotel inside the customs zone.  It's a place one could live for a while and not get bored.

Changi is, however, HUGE.  You will get some serious exercise dashing around that place.  Keep in mind that Singapore is not only a major Asian hub, but also every flight in or out is an international flight...there are no domestic destinations.

Once freed of Changi's charms, you break out into the blazing daylight to try and get a taxi.  I say try because, as I've noted before, Singapore is the only place in the world where the taxi drivers tell you where they are going, and with a bit of luck, it's close to where you want to go.

Me: "How much is it, sir?"
Driver: "Let's call it $20."
Me: "Let's call it whatever the meter says."  It was turned so only he could see it.
Driver: "$15.80."
Me: "Let's call it $16, then, shall we?"
Driver: (Mandarin cuss words)

I alight (it's a former British colony after all) on the sidewalk.  One thing I will grant Singapore, as much as I hate the place, is that it has wide, clean sidewalks, many with overhangs for shade.  It's a radical difference from Indonesia, where if there are sidewalks, they are covered with warung and kaki lima (tobacconists and makeshift eateries).

I'm on a visa run, which for those in the audience who are transnationalists know, is the bane of every foreign domiciliary outside the US, where immigration control is little more than a bad joke.  I've arrived at my agent's office building.

We all use agents around here.  If I were to try this myself, it would cost me $75 and two or three days in Singapore.  An agent can get it done in a day for $230 (Sing dollars, by the way).  I show up, fork over the passport, entry card, telex (authorizing my visa), a photo and a pile of cash.  I spend the next seven hours wandering the streets of Singapore, and POOF, I can go home with my shiny new permit to live in the country where I have a family and property.  Of course, that doesn't give me the work visa.  That's a whole different process that begins tomorrow when I'm back home.

Singapore has a number of benefits.  The mass transit is, in a word, amazing.  In another word, it's cheap, too.  All the way across the island is less than three Singbux.

In addition to the aforementioned sidewalks, it's also very clean, organized and runs like clockwork.  On top of that, this being the first day of Ramadhan, there are lines out the doors of the restaurants, whereas at home, the FPI is waiting to pounce on and trash any establishment that caters to non-Moslems (i.e., those of us who continue to eat during the fasting month).

On the bad side, Singapore taught me...at long last...the real definition of fascism.  You see, the definition of fascism is not the lost of freedom, but the commoditizing of it.  You can have all the freedom you want, as long as you have the money to pay for it.  For instance, you can have a car here as long as you buy the license to buy the car.  The license costs about the same as the car.  You can have a fully detached house as long as you buy the license to buy the house.  You are perfectly free in Singapore, as long as you got the Beeg Bux.  Same in all the other fascist countries.

Speaking of money, Singaporean money is a bitch.  It's made of plastic, so it is smooth as a baby's bottom.  While this may seem like a cool idea - the bills don't get wadded up and you can wash it and disinfect it if you want - it is impossible to fold and even harder to keep a grasp on.  If you have several bills in your hand and a stiff wind comes along, it slips right through your fingers.  I suppose that's the idea.  The fascists don't want you hanging on to your cash.  It slows the economy.  It's all about velocity.

The people are nice enough, but it's the kind of nice you would get if you lived somewhere where they throw you in jail for being unhappy.  You know the kind of smile folks give where the mouth does all the right moves, but the eyes refuse to join in the fun and games?  It's that kind of nice.

Singapore has all the vices for those stricken with them.  There's casinos, but if you are a citizen, you must pay 100 Singbux to get in.  Foreigners are free.  There's a whole section of town devoted to whorehouses, and you can find women from all over the world there.  Doesn't matter the country, you can find at least a dozen representatives from the Social Club there.

Booze is cheap and beer makers compete to see who can make the brew with the highest alcohol content.  The winner so far is one with 9% squeege.  That's a hefty beer, bro.  But I guess if you live in a fascist regime, it helps to be drunk a lot so's you don't really notice the right good a$$ pounding you're getting every day.

One can't escape the feeling of being cattle here.  People all seem to move in lock step.  They all wear Dior and Giordano.  They all reek of the latest designer pheromones.  The laws cover everything down to your bathroom habits - I kid not.  1000 Singbux if you don't flush a public toilet.  Makes you wonder if someone runs in after you leave to check, perhaps even measure.

Singapore is very sterile.  The longer I'm here, the more I feel my testosterone leaching away.  It's kind of like kryptonite to Superman.  Imagine an entire country full of Michael J. Foxes in The Secret of my Success.  Scary really.

I have received one good inspiration since coming here this time.  I am now determined to learn Mandarin.  That will be the international language of the coming century, replacing English in board rooms all over the world.  English may remain as the primary language of the plebes and proles, but if you want to enter the heady realm of corporate globalism, Mandarin is where it's at.  It's a stiff barrier to entry, which makes it perfect as a means of separating the executives from the wannabies.    If you want to be one of the privileged boot-lickers, I highly recommend Malay.

So, tonight I'll return home after a 21-hour ordeal.  Tomorrow, I'll give my passport to the agent who will initiate the IMTA (work permit) process.  In a couple of days, I'll have to go to immigration to give yet another set of electronic fingerprints, yet another digital signature, and yet another photo (they already have half a kajillion on file).

By the way, you may have read in the past week or so about the smoke from fires in Indonesia choking Malaysia and Singapore.  Singapore had near-fatal levels for a day or two.  Both countries complained loudly and bitterly about Indonesian farmers slashing and burning their fields.  Global press reports made Indonesia out to be the bad guys - international polluters.

What the stories didn't tell you is that the farms that were being slashed and burned were owned by Malay and Singaporean corporate palm oil interests.  Ain't fascism grand?  You slash and burn countries for profit and then blame them on the global stage for polluting your air.

A word to Singaporean corporate plantation owners - F%$K YOU!

So, now you have a little insight into transnationalist living.  It's all kinda wild and wooly.  There are competing business, lifestyle and religious interests all trying to claw over the other to get on top, because only on top can you buy more freedom.

Tote Board at Changi Airport

I'd give you more tastes of the Far Side, but I've got to catch the 2120 back to Jakarta after I hit the duty free and buy a jug of reasonably-priced hooch to tide me over the fasting month.

One last bit of news...when I do these day-trip things, I only carry a satchel, what the fags call a man-purse.  I've been back and forth to Singapore six times with my satchel, which I haven't really added or subtracted from in all that time.  Tonight, the security witch in Singapore confiscated an X-acto knife I've had in the bag for years across half a dozen countries and two continents.  Forgot I even had the thing.  Couldn't do much more than carve my initials in the seat-back with it.  Even made me sign a confiscation report, which I refused to do.

Agent: Would you sign here, sir?
Me: Why?
Agent: (pause) I need your signature.
Me: For what?
Agent: It's an acknowledgement.
Me: You're stealing my property and you want me to agree to it?
Agent: We have to confiscate your knife.
Me: Confiscation is theft with legal authority.
Agent: Please sign here.
Me: No.
Agent: I...er...this...
Me: Thank you for stealing my property.

Probably all because I always put "TEXAS" in the area where it asks for nationality.  They hate when I do that.

The Great Escape

As the old saw goes, "'Merica, love it er leave it!"

I live in Indonesia.  That should give a fair answer.

I chose to live in Indonesia.  I considered my move carefully for the better part of 20 years.  I knew by the mid-80s, after having lived and traveled abroad for two years, that things were seriously wrong back in good ole 'Merica.

Being being born a Texan and raised by an historian and politician, I had a bit more perspective than most.  I knew what the Constitution said and that it was not open for interpretation.  My mother the English teacher gave me the ability to read plain, clear language, such as that used to write the founding document of the US feral gummint.  The part of me that was a seventh generation Texan just wanted to be left the hell alone to make a little money and raise a family.

Alas, that is not the direction the US has taken.  In fact, instead of leaving folks the hell alone, they are all up in everyone's business and the boundaries are shrinking by the moment.  It is to the point that the feral gummint feels perfectly comfortable telling the people what they can eat, drink and smoke, what activities can take place in their homes, and of course leaving the home subjects the individual to endless prying.  Hell, just to get and keep a job, they can legally require you to surrender bodily fluids and violate a number of rights established as far back as the Magna Charta.

The worst part?  The people just roll over and take it, then go so far as to put social pressure on others to do the same thinking, "If I gave up my right to privacy, then everyone else should have to, as well."  This mentality is akin to the lemming plummeting to his death looking back and saying, "Those bastards better jump too!"

It's a sad thing to see one's home country taken over by fascists.  Those of us who read history books saw the warning signs years ago.  Some of us tried to change things, while others bugged out early.  I gave up in 2008, and left for more favorable climes.

Since coming to Indonesia, I have had contact with police twice and both times were rather innocuous.  At home, twice a day was more the norm, and each encounter carried a 50-50 chance of going to jail for no particular reason other than out-of-control cops waving their night-sticks around.

In parts of Asia, you can still walk out on the tarmac, board a plane and pay the ticket from your seat, just like the States back in the 60s and early 70s.  The airport doesn't have metal detectors and little more than a handful of uniformed officials running around.  I feel safer there than with Homeland Security climbing up my posterior with a flashlight.

Yet Mericans don't seem to realize that they have lost more to their own 'authorities' than any 'terrorist' could ever have taken from them.  What kind of insanity is this?

There was no point in trying to change it.  The dead, vacuous stares in the eyes of the average Merican as they tell you about safety and security is enough to chase any reasoning person as far out of the borders as one can get.  I went as far as I could go without actually beginning the journey back again.

In all honesty, it's more comfortable to live in a neo-socialist country than to watch my native country devolve into Huxley-an nightmare around me.  At least here, I know what the rules are and I can avoid the pitfalls.  In Merica, there were some 50,000 laws governing my every waking moment, which meant that I could not step out of bed in the morning without becoming a criminal and subject to arbitrary arrest on the whim of some 'authority'.  At least Indonesians have the good sense to ignore innane and ridiculous laws...both the citizenry and the enforcers.

I used to get asked all the time by the folks back home why I left Merica.  Why would I choose to get out of such a haven of peace, love and freedom?  They don't ask anymore.  More often, I get asked to offer advice on how to get out.  "What should I do?"  "Where should I go?"  "What's it like?"  "Is it difficult?"

Honestly, how and where to go is as individual and the person making the choice to leave.

Is it difficult?  Absolutely.

It's not easy leaving lifelong friends and family.  It's not easy learning new languages and cultures.  It's not easy setting up house in a foreign environment.  It's not easy making all-new friends.  It's not easy breaking into the local business networks.

Locals tend to exclude you because you are a foreigner.  The ex-pats tend to exclude you because they were here first and want to protect their turf.  You have no idea who to trust and who is out to 'get ya'.  You have no idea where to go to buy basic necessities and you have to learn the numbers and names for things so you can find them and buy them.  Even then, you are likely to pay much higher prices because the locals mark you as ignorant and gullible, and they are right.

So why do it?  Because the risks and rewards are far greater than what you left behind.  Because it's a challenge that makes you feel more alive than you have in years.  Because living on the edge is what life is really about.  We are here to learn, to experience and to grow.  Moving to a foreign country is about as far into all three of those things as one can get.

Ex-patriotism is not for everyone.  There are plenty of home-bodies that abhor change and challenges.  They will go along with just about anything to get along.  Ex-patriotism turns your entire life on its head.  The most basic assumptions you make about your daily routine suddenly become the greatest challenges.  A great many people can't handle it.  One sees two types of ex-pats come here: those who run screaming for the exit after about two weeks, and the ones who stick it out and end up staying for years.  A few even become citizens after a while.

Ex-patriotism rewards those who stick it out.  You learn a completely different view of the world.  You pick up habits you thought were so foreign when you arrived.  You develop a taste for foods you couldn't even find at the market back home, if you even knew to look for them.  The unusual and outrageous become daily events.  You gain knowledge, experience and insight that would have been impossible to get even watching the NatGeo channel 24/7.

Best of all, you learn to rely on yourself and to trust that you are capable of meeting broad new challenges and adapting to new environments.  Ex-patriotism is a crash course in Self.  When it comes to self-exploration, there is no finer teacher than to remove yourself from all comfort zones and confront your fears and insecurities.

In all, ex-patriotism is a complex issue.  It is as much a running from as a running to.  The people who are willing to try it are as much escaping bad situations at home, as they are exploring new realms, both inside and outside.

At some point, most people think about what it would be like to live in another country.  Few actually try it.  But as the situation devolves in Merica, one finds more and more folks willing to take the leap.  It is not an easy choice to make and usually requires a strong push from the local situation to force one to consider it, much less actually do it.  But there are rewards equal to the risks involved, not the least of which is escaping intolerable socio-political environments at home.

Real freedom is not the choice between yellow mustard and Dijon.  It is the ability to change your situation in life and explore the inner and outer worlds.  Real freedom comes with a lot of risks, not the least of which the possibility of failure and losing it all.  The question is, how much are you willing to give up to keep it all?  Safety and security are elusive things and unobtainable without sacrificing most of what we use to define being human.

Ex-patriotism is a very real option for those finally tired of tyranny.  No place is perfect, but it is surprising how free much of the world is compared to places such as Merica.  Imagine going through a full day without once appearing on a surveillance camera.  And that's only the beginning.

It's something to consider the next time you feel panic at seeing a cop car behind you.

Everything Old Is New Again

Reader Note:  Beware!  There's a new email hack going around.  I got hit for the first time in my life, so that should say something about it.  Usually, these weasel shits come with no subject, 100 names in the CC box and only a link in the body text.  This little gem mails each person in your contact list individually, takes the first name from your account and the target account, then sends a couple of lines about "hey XXXX, check this out", along with a link.  Looked all official and legit until I clicked it.  If I even meet one of the low-life scum who start these things, I will castrate them and serve Rocky Mountain oysters for dinner.

So, with business out of the way, what shall we talk about?  How about fascism?

Lincoln with fasces

I just have to laugh at all the numbnuts out there who are jumping up and down hollering about how America is slipping further and further into fascism.  Excuse me, but...

WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN FOR THE PAST 200-ODD YEARS?!

I know this is going to be news for a lot of folks, but America has been a fascist state since the moment of it's inception.  I mean, let's just set aside the fact that Americans committed wholesale slaughter, fraud and theft against the North American aboriginal peoples.  Let's forget that it was American-flagged ships that brought,  slaves to North America.  Let's even forget that the word "People" is capitalized in the Constitution, indicating that it is a specially defined term and not the common word we use in our daily speech.

There's plenty of other evidence.

But first, let's define our terms.  Fascism is fundamentally tied to Corporatism, of which Wikipedia
 tells us is, "Corporatism, also known as corporativism has more than one meaning. It may refer to political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labour, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common interests."

In other words, fascism is the unholy marriage of corporate interests with the power of the State, which creates oppressive authoritarian regimes.  Corporations are heartless, soulless creations of law that can only act in their own best interests (profit), which is in contrast to the ideal government as a spontaneous organic servant of a group of people acting in their own collective interests (justice).

Sprinkle liberally with blind nationalism, jingoism and extreme intolerance, and you have all of American history in a nutshell.

Circumstantial, you say?  Hang on...it gets better.

Flag of the East India Co. ca. A.D.1600

You know those red and white stripes on the American flag?  Those are the unmistakable symbol of the British East India Company (BEIC).  The BEIC was chartered by Queen Elizabeth I in 1600, and the company became fabulously wealthy trading spices and other commodities from India and Southeast Asia.  The company's flag looked remarkably like the American flag with the Union Jack in place of the blue field of stars.

Thus, the American flag, in essence, represents a division or subsidiary corporation of the larger holding company.  Old Glory quite literally is a company flag, and since it is the symbol of a nation being supposedly an organic creation of people acting in concert, then by definition America is a fascist State.

To see further symbolic proof of this unholy marriage of corporate and government power, we need look no further than the US House of Representatives.  There, on the wall behind the podium, and framing all the proceedings of the People's House, are two giant fasces.

For those unfamiliar with the facses (origin of the word fascism), the symbol is a bundle of sticks bound together with a cord and having an axe-head protruding from the top.  It is a classic Roman symbol denoting the projection of power from tightly bound and disparate groups of people.  There is an inherent implication of force/bondage and bellicosity in the symbol.

So, America uses a flag demonstrating that it is a corporate subdivision of the BEIC, and it has the classic symbol of fascism adorning its legislative house, and the nation has historically behaved in a manner identifiable as fascist but you are still not conviced.

According to a number of researchers, including Frank O'Collins and Santo Bonacci, "these united States" were incorporated in the Vatican in the late 1800s as THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.  The federal government of America is, by every legal definition, a corporation.  It is an artificial 'person' constituted under Canon Law and behaving as if it were an organic institution.

Still not convinced?

Prior to World War 2, the US was a primary supporter of the Nazis and brown shirts.  The US financier class gave money and materiel to the Nazi cause and openly supported the anti-Communist Nazis.  The Ford, Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations, along with notable individuals such as Prescott Bush, made no secret of their pro-fascist leanings.

Concepts such as genetic and racial purity, and euthanasia, commonly associated with the Nazis, originated in America.  In the 1920s and 30s, there were strong movements to sterilize groups and individuals under color of law that didn't fit the American self-image.  These groups included the mentally and physically unfit, or those with criminal tendencies.  Eugenics is tied deeply to American exceptionalism and fascism.

And to just put a fine point on it, US agencies like the CIA and NASA were thinly disguised Nazi fronts.  General Reinhard Gehlen and Major Werner von Braun (among dozens of other Nazis) were given safe haven in America and have had a profound effect on that country into the 21st century.

From its inception until today, the US has been and continues to be a fascist state by every definition of the term.  The country employs openly fascist symbols, is bellicose and jingoistic, is authoritarian in every respect, and has a history of fascist leanings and causes.

Some might point to Obama and 'multi-culturalism' as signs that the fascist influence is waning, but I propose that there are little more than window dressing to placate various socialist elements in the country while a full and open fascist agenda is pursued.  Even with the election of Obama, the US continues to prosecute wars on countries without significant white populations.  In fact, since WW2, the US has not attacked a single nation with a predominantly white population belying an ongoing policy of racial purity at the highest levels of government.

Based on these facts, and many more only touched on here, I submit that the government of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is now and always has been a fascist state by every definition of the term.  For those hysterically waving their arms crying, "America is becoming a fascist state," I say they are a couple of centuries too late.  What America is becoming is an openly authoritarian police state, but even that designation is a natural outcropping of the nation's long history of fascism.

Roman eagle, laurels and fasces

Furthermore, if you want to find nations today that are founded in and guided by fascist ideology, you have only to look for red and white stripes (BEIC) and eagle symbols in their national identities.  What you will find is that fascism is not a 20th century phenomenon, but rather a centuries-old concept of corporate power masquerading as legitimate government based on a medieval concept developed by the Roman Church that states collections of humans can constitute a corporate entity that acts in every way like an individual, or 'person'.

A thereby hangs a long and frightening history, one which few people will openly investigate and even fewer will acknowledge.  In fact, fascism is a legal and philosophical concept that dates back to the Roman Empire, and the US is only the most recent and successful manifestation of a very old idea.

In order to change it, we must first acknowledge what it is and where it comes from.  Otherwise, we are doomed to treating the symptom while leaving the disease to fester.

And here you thought Washington D.C.'s Romanesque architecture was just because it looked cool.

They're Baaaaaack!

Fascism is a lot like pornography - most folks can't define it, but they know it when they see it.  Or do they?

There are two primary defining aspects of fascism.  One is that State and Corporate interests converge, such that the State becomes the enforcement arm of Corporate hegemony, while Corporations enforce State interests at the level of their employees, meaning the rest of us, though things like loyalty tests and tax compliance.

Each scratches the other's back.  The State enacts protective legislation and relaxes regulations that benefit Corporate interests and enforces these things at the point of a gun under the 'color of law'.  Government agents become little more than private police working at the behest of Corporate oligarchs. 

Meanwhile, Corporations serve the State by enforcing tax laws at the level of your paycheck, forcing you to surrender your rights and privacy in order to obtain and keep a job.  You are forced to swear oaths of loyalty through immigration forms.  You are required to surrender bodily fluids and submit to psychological tests in order to receive economic benefit.  Corporate interests also control mass populations through credit and other economic weapons at the behest of the State.

The other defining aspect of fascism is a legal system that is so burdensome and intrusive that every citizen is breaking some law at every moment of their lives.  Granted, the laws are arbitrarily enforced.  You can break some laws for years without reprisal, but if the State decides one day that you are a threat, then it can easily dig up piles of major and minor infractions that you had little idea existed.

This second aspect of fascism is the most insidious.  Laws in most countries are so byzantine that even the legislators have no idea what is in them.  They are simply rewarded or punished with favors to enact them.  The legislators, for their part, don't care much because they enjoy a certain amount of immunity in their positions.

A hallmark of this aspect of fascism is constant and all-encompassing surveillance.  Everything the citizen says, does and thinks is recorded.  If at any point the citizen becomes a threat, the State can prove multiple infractions of little-known laws that on their face, seem contradictory and even ridiculous.  No one will defend the individual out of fear that the same treatment will be applied to them.

At some point, the average citizen becomes aware of the system that has sprung up around him.  At that time, he must make a choice to remain within the system, thus surrendering his morals and ethics, or step outside of it and live as an outlaw constantly looking over his shoulder.  A few will realize that there is no difference between the two choices, but most will come down on the side of supposed caution and try to remain within the system.

As one surveys the modern United States, one sees all the trappings of fascism.  Corporate interests control the legislative bodies.  The legislators completely ignore the will of the electorate, knowing full well that the masses no longer exercise choices that aren't controlled by the Corporations.  On the other side, the State has erected a legal system so massive and byzantine that no individual is without transgression.  He is complete hemmed in by the law to the point of hopelessness and inaction for fear of reprisal.

Over all of this is a surveillance system that documents every little infraction from birth to death.  If at any time the citizen chooses to fight back, the State can simply bury him in a hail of arbitrary charges for things that no one knew were illegal.  Even if the citizen puts up a good fight, the State can simply manipulate the system to impoverish the individual through extended legal proceedings, ultimately crushing dissent by attrition.  The citizen can find no one to stand up for him because everyone is afraid that the same treatment will befall them if they speak up.

Ultimately, fascism is the most devious form of government ever devised.  Because it uses economic weapons, it affects the most basic needs of the individual.  Because it can outlaw literally anything, the individual is made into a criminal for doing nothing more than living.  He can be jailed for collecting rain water or his children taken away for holding bake sales.  His right to travel can be switched off with a simple note on his government records.

In the end, we all become Josef K in a Kafka-esque nightmare so bizarre and horrifying that the system strikes fear into even those who administer it.  The system takes on a life of its own and will finally begin to eat its own.

At this point, it finally begins to unravel, as everyone realizes that there is no safe harbor in such a system.  But by the time this happens, it has eaten the life out of generations of human beings and thoroughly destroyed innocence and trust.

Fascism takes root through ignorance and thrives in denial.  We give purchase to it when we think, "It can never happen here."  We fertilize it by thinking, "It is NOT happening here."

This evil is so pervasive that one begins to think there is no way to fight.  No true.  In fact, the best weapon against it is so simple as to be incredible.  It's called 'shunning'.

We must shun the system and all its trappings.  We must shun the electoral process.  It is vital that we realize this sham is worthless as a means of change.  It is nothing more than a way to get us to buy into our own destruction.  It gives the system legitimacy, even though it is completely illegitimate.

We must vilify its apparatchiks and turn them into pariahs.  If a known government agent walks into a restaurant and sits down, people should get up and move away.  We should hide our children from police as if they carry an infectious disease.  We should not associate with anyone employed by the system, to the point of breaking friendships over it.

We should avoid the courts at all costs.  We should not pray and plead in the system's holy rooms, but rather find creative ways to settle our differences outside those vile halls.

En masse, we should stop renewing licenses and registrations.  We should extract ourselves as completely as we can from any and all control functions of the State.  We should stop using the mega-banks and only use small, local banks whenever it is unavoidable.  We should stop buying products sold by mega-corporations, and support only local shops and manufacturers.

Most importantly, we should ridicule the system at every turn.  The one thing fascism can not abide is for the citizenry to not take it seriously.  When people stop fearing it, it withers and dies.  It can not stand up to satire and mockery.  This was used to great effect against Joe McCarthey.

Shunning is a very old and very effective tool.  If a sufficient number of people turn to this time-tested method, it will achieve tremendous results in a short amount of time without a single act of violence.

Or, as Orwell warned, we can live with the boot of tyranny stamping on our faces for all time.

Fascism is running rampant throughout the world right now.  We don't recognize it because we are looking for Hitlers and Musolinis, and the Nazi trappings and logos.  But fascism morphs and changes with its surroundings.  It will take on the veil of whatever environment it is in.  It wraps itself in you flag.  It dresses itself as your neighbor.  It shakes hands and kisses babies and looks for all the world like the most harmless thing, until you cross it.