By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
It’s Labor Day weekend, the book-end to Memorial day, marking the end of summer season and routinely celebrated with the sale of hot dogs, hamburgers and dozens of flavors of potato chips, soda and beer. This should be a day when we examine, for better or worse, what has become of our national work force, but nobody wants to look too closely. If we read the web pages we might discover that a New Jersey woman, working four low-paying jobs to make ends meet, died napping in her car this week. If we open those e-mails we might learn that due to our staggering income inequality, we’re losing somewhere in the neighborhood of $18,000 a year, and who wants to be bummed out on a three-day holiday?
But that’s difficult to avoid. Now that corporations are people too, it’s evident that money has become speech, talking louder and louder these days. The high rollers aren’t necessarily the winners, though, depending on how we define “winner.” Putin rolled the dice this week, assisting with the creation of a “new Russia,” incorporating parts of Ukraine that weren’t all that anxious to rejoin the motherland. Protestations that Russia wasn’t actively involved were belied by the sight of Russian tanks and gear, as well as the capture of Russian soldiers. In response, the European Union met to decide how to beef up economic sanctions, resulting in the ruble plummeting to an all time low. The New Russia looks to be as poorly funded as the old one.
Obama has stepped up bombing in Iraq, going after the brutal Islamic State, but the Pentagon is warning that this will not be enough to stop them. These highly organized Muslim regressives are already the best funded jihadist group around, savvy about raiding banks as they go, and holding hostages for ransom. They’ve taken considerable territory, terrorizing everyone they meet along the way, killing those (men) they can’t convert and raping and enslaving those (women and children) who are left. And, although we’re no longer responding to the scare tactics that left us quivering in front of our TV screens more than a decade ago, there are enough dire pronouncements regarding these deadly zealots to give us all grave concern. Happy Days for John McCain, his wee sidekick, Lindsey Graham, and the money-hungry military industrial-complex that plays them — and us — like a fiddle.
Americans definitely aren’t interested in a ground war, but we suffer collective PTSD when it comes to the specter (real or imagined) of savage jihadis, which puts us at a disadvantage when it comes to PR about “fighting ’em there so we don’t have to fight ’em here.” We already have U.S. military advisors in country, assisting with defense, and although Obama continues to stand firm that the new leadership in Iraq needs a political solution to this problem before it can count on real American assistance, we have oil interests to take care of, don’t we? Those pulling the strings love the power, love the strategic positioning, love our exceptionalism and — most of all — love the oil (with the vast and profitable machinery of weapons and war a close second).
Of course these big, international projects always cost a mint, but here at home, things should look a little better. And they do, but not for the average Joe or Jill. The top investors — as opposed to earners — are doing quite well, thank you, according to the figures. The rest of us are losing ground steadily, despite the slow but sure success of the stimulus, the meager spending of this administration, and the dramatic reduction in the deficit. If you’re hearing anything else about free-spending Dems (or visiting FOX News regularly) you’re being lied to. Not only that, but the top one percent has purchased the political power to keep its gated communities shut tight against an onslaught of the great unwashed.
As a nation more divided than it’s been since the Civil War, we’ve become increasingly dependent upon litigation rather than legislation to get what we want. The President is being sued for taking too much upon himself in administering the Affordable Care Act, which is too thin a charge but illustrates how things work now that government doesn’t. Unfortunately, justice has also suffered an avalanche of slings and arrows in recent decades that has significantly weakened the “rule of law” upon which so many of us depended.
We have a 21st century problem with politicized courts and judges, even though Lady Justice is supposed to be blind, lending her the neutrality to judge aright. Just watch news from state to state to see which judges struck down gay marriage, and which ones reinstituted it the next week. In unprecedented criticism, SCOTUS Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, responding to the situation in Ferguson, Missouri, took her conservative fellows to task over their tone-deaf judgments on matters of race. And dangerous to democracy, said Ginsberg, is the Supreme Court’s failure to recognize the importance of campaign finance regulations in stabilizing the nation.
Some of us are holding our breath to see if the Pubs will notice that the U.S. Government Accountability office has determined that the Department of Defense broke the law by trading five Gitmo detainees for Taliban hostage, Bowe Bergdahl. Should Boehner put down his glass of Merlot long enough to consider the possibility of locking up government in a mindless exercise that will, once again, test the patience of the public, the House will likely skip ahead to impeachment. They’ve been desperate to find a chink in Obama’s armor for years, and if the Pubs take the Senate in November, I suspect that we can count on it.
The irony of that situation is that the 30-day congressional notification the DoD failed to adhere to is a simple heads-up to the committees that appropriate the funds in order to transfer prisoners in Gitmo. If such an issue leads to impeachment, it wouldn’t be for a botched burglary nor even a blow job, but an accounting misstep that could assault the man in the highest office in the country and throw the whole of the nation into the stew pot for another slow simmer.
If money is speech, then it’s squealing non-stop in the inner sanctum of most political candidates facing down a (truly) mammoth infusion of Koch money attempting to tip the electoral scales. My in-box is filled on a daily basis by progressive candidates detailing the multi-millions going into Republican TV ads and well-financed electioneering opposing them. Unable to make an internal shift to become more hospitable toward the female and Hispanic demographic, Pubs have determined to throw big money at their opponents, hopefully side-stepping any need to court these low-wage earners, while keeping them in their place. It’s hardly a long-range tactic, but they’ve decided it will do for the moment while not rubbing its most regressive members the wrong way.
And if money is speech, Mitch McConnell and his cohorts should be a little more careful in threatening further obstruction. The more people feel unhappy with government, the more they vote in mid-terms, aware that they can switch out their local officials easier than electing a president. While it’s true that party affiliation runs the expectations of mid-term votes, in times of challenge so does the need for change. Of course, discerning the cause for the problems is the very crux of that matter.
In 2010 we saw the rise of the Tea Party, a no-nothing contingent of newbies that were determined to drown government in a tea cup whenever it got the chance, and they’ve succeeded admirably. Having little understanding of the basic NEED for decent governance, the Baggers have created more mayhem than good tidings, so that even some Republicans in the Pea Patch are having buyers’ remorse. That’s the good news beginning to surface four LONG dysfunctional years later. Democracy takes its sweet time, citizen!
McConnell’s threat to hold the budget hostage again with government shutdown could win him votes with the faithful, but lose him his job for good, and a few of his co-workers as well. Only time will tell if the less fanatic of us are energized enough to show up to do our civic duty in November.
We know that voting is our last defense against becoming voiceless, although even that has come into question. Populist economist Robert Reich tells us that, based on political design, our vote only blows a little wind into the sails of the Ship of State and that can be quickly overcome by gerrymander, lobbying and PR campaigns. We are, in more ways than we can count, “One Nation, For-Profit.” So two can play that game, yes? We can make some inroads if we are willing to become mindful about whatever’s in our wallet, how we use our money, on a daily basis.
Way back in the middle of the last decade, a Canadian reader of Political Waves wrote to urge that we boycott with our pocket book. It had worked, she told me, in her native country in South America. The economy had yet to fall into a black hole, of course, so it was hard to herd any readers into the fold. Easier to see now how the strategic use of our resources makes all the difference. It’s time to think that through on a very large scale.
What we decide to support financially is a sure indicator of what we find valuable. Who we withhold from can quickly become a political statement. A few weeks ago, Walgreens announced that it was thinking of moving its headquarters to Switzerland. This alerted the public to a tax dodge called “corporate inversion,” a loop-hole that Bloomberg claims has led to as much TWO TRILLION corporate dollars sheltered overseas. Over 200,000 signatures on a petition protesting Walgreen’s plan put a stake through its heart.
Now, Burger King has decided to do its own inversion to Canada. MoveOn and other groups have been collecting signatures for a petition, threatening boycott. I rarely eat fast food but occasionally I’ll stop for a Whopper, a taste I associate with good times in my past. I wrote them and told them their decision really hurt my feelings, but that if I wasn’t good enough for them, they were no longer good enough for me. Through social media and grassroots political organizations, the public is beginning to respond to these matters routinely. And — amazingly — outcomes can change. Walgreens gave up its plan to relocate, we’ll see what happens with BK.
Here are some Georgia-Pacific products belonging to Koch Industries for your boycott consideration:
Angel Soft®
Brawny®
Coronet®
Dixie®
Mardi Gras®
MD Bathroom Tissue
Quilted Northern®
Soft ‘n Gentle®
Sparkle®
Vanity Fair®
Zee®
These are the most recognizable of the Koch products, I think — the most generic to most of us — but just the tip of the iceberg, as Koch investments are enormous; you’ll find more products here.
By the way, there’s an app for Koch and Monsanto, GMO labeling and the like called Buycott; find info here.
And if you’re interested in a real “level playing field,” you will want to support the Senate vote for a constitutional amendment tossing out Citizens United on September 8th. The amendment is approved by three of every four voters, and has been furthered by public outcry against corporate dominance that is already reflected in 16 states and more than 550 cities and towns. Find out where your legislators stand on this issue and encourage their support.
It’s Labor Day and I can’t let that go without adding a voice for the unions. Once upon a time, following an enormous amount of activism and sacrifice, one third of American workers held union membership, leading to stable, prosperous years. Now, unions represent only seven percent of American workers, and who looks out for the working stiff now? Campaign for America’s Future speaks to that issue here, reminding us about the ability to organize and use collective bargaining to ensure working rights. Until we can do that once again, we have no protection from corporate overlords.
If there was one thing I’d wish for this nation at this moment, it’s a remembrance of what organizing was all about. The fact that Obama’s resumé as a community organizer caused the plutocrats to have a major tizzy fit should be a giveaway for how powerful such activity has been in the past, and can be again. For a first step, let’s use our OWN power of the purse to kick a few butts, shall we?
Happy Labor Day, if you’re one of the lucky ones able to take the weekend off, enjoy yourself and stay safe. And while you’re at it, remember to raise a glass to those who will work through the holiday at minimum wage, in order to fund their own limited version of the American Dream. And let’s remember that what that dream will become in the future is in no ones hands but our own.
addendum: The March 20, 2015 Pisces Solar Eclipse chart has Venus at 3+ Taurus, the same degree where Chiron was when discovered on 11/1/97. Chiron’s Discovery Degree chart also has Sedna at 4+ Taurus and conjunct Chiron. Chiron’s “birth” chart includes Pholus (small cause, big effect) at 15+ Pisces retrograde, the degree where Chiron will be in the upcoming September 8th Full Moon (which he conjuncts) and where the present progressed U.S. Sibly (as well as the natal Sibly) Sedna resides.
Chiron, as well as Sedna, in the Chiron Discovery Degree chart were square Mars at 2+ Leo, only 34 arc minutes from where transiting Jupiter and Sun made their conjunction on July 25, 2014, which was also squared by Mars. Sedna was discovered, 26 years after Chiron, at 17 – almost 18 degrees of Taurus, which is opposite where Saturn will be in the upcoming September 8th Full Moon chart. Sedna’s discovery degree will therefore sextile the Full Pisces Moon and Chiron as well as oppose Saturn.
While there is much much more in Sedna’s discovery chart that leads to other conclusions regarding her relationship to the environment, I will only note now that she was in a grand earth trine with Chiron in Capricorn and Jupiter in Virgo, reinforcing the present day astrology (through at least next March) and it’s emphasis on healing Earth. I feel sure this new cycle between Sun and Jupiter will bring further examination and action (square Mars, Ceres and Vesta) of environmental issues; with a focus on water health.
be
Judith, I second Amanda’s comments. Being aware of the insanity & not letting it “in” can be a challenge for me sometimes though, particularly when something strikes a spot in me where some fears still hover, often below my awareness. But once we know what’s going on, we can’t un-know it.
As a working single mom in the city, I never could afford to buy whatever I may have liked, & relied upon the frugality I learned from my parents, who married amidst the Great Depression. I didn’t always avoid being charmed by consumer culture, & I know my daughter & I probably went out for fast food too often when she was a kid. But she did learn how to be frugal, & is now able to be comfortable on a lower income than many of her peers, & have more free time as a result. It works for her. I just hope she’ll get a bit more into gardening.
I garden , forage, can, freeze, dehydrate – I get to eat better food, & it helps stretch a small fixed income, enhances my feelings of independence. This was not a good year for gardening, & I’ll have few tomatoes (my specialty). I’m glad I canned last year’s surplus.
Other ways I don’t support the system: buy secondhand where possible, fix old things if they can be fixed, re-purpose items, sew, mend, knit. Much used to be produced within households, before the consumer society came upon us. I’m thinking we need to go “back” to those practices & skills as part of going forward. Most in my rural area flock off to the nearest Walmart. I don’t.
A harsh winter is also predicted for my area of Canada. Fahrenheit & Celcius meet at -40, & yes, it happens here – & we go out in it.
Bette
Amanda’s right Jude, your column is invaluable. Something to look forward to each Saturday. On September 8th the Full Moon will conjunct the U.S. progressed Sedna. Well, because we are in the ‘month of Virgo”, technically, Chiron will conjunct the U.S. prog. Sedna and then the Full Moon conjuncts Chiron.
I bring it up now because Sedna lends herself to so many areas of discussion it’s hard to narrow down how she might express her moment in the spotlight, or moonlight as it turns out. Thanks to you and your commenters, I’ve chosen Independent Thinking and Earth Resources as her role in this lunation. Because you and your readers and most all PW’ers that speak up here love the planet Earth, I can say that there’s something positive for her future written in the stars. At least in the next lunation. The rest is up to us.
On the day of the Pisces Full Moon (it’s now Sunday, so in honor of Virgo, precisely 8 days from now), Chiron (15+ Pisces retro) and the Full Moon (16+ Pisces) and the U.S. progressed Sedna (15+ Pisces) will form a grand water trine with Vesta (16+ Scorpio, who technically is conjunct Saturn at 18+ and Ceres at 10+), and Juno (16+ Cancer). This alone would gladden the hearts of us who fear the laws (Saturn) don’t go far enough to protect our water supplies (Sedna) and land (Ceres) from pollutants and greed. Vesta (who symbolizes what we invest in) and Juno (symbolizing equal treatment and support for the disenfranchised) will join with this 5th of 5-in-a-row SuperMoons (fullest and closest to earth) to plead the case for healing (Chiron) the Earth and her resources. They will appeal to our consciousness the water-way, through our feelings.
Additional and important help is symbolically noted through this full moon’s sextile formed between Vesta and the Sun at 16+ Virgo who form a yod with Uranus at 15+ Aries retrograde. We know that a yod puts pressure on the apex planet, this time Uranus, to adjust in some way. With Uranus representing breakthroughs and instant consciousness, and he being in the sign of Aries (the Individual and New Beginnings) while being pressured by Sun in Virgo (Earth Health) and Vesta in Scorpio (regeneration) to adjust in some way, the theme would seem to be on conservation and clean up (Virgo) of our land and water.
But there’s even more, because Uranus conjuncts the U.S progressed Chiron (painfully aware) at 17+ Aries. Ergo, expect a breakthrough in consciousness of individuals through some painful experience of the necessity to cleanup our act. These two progressed planets show that the U.S. population is “ready” now to take on the efforts symbolized by Chiron and Sedna. But they too are supported by the U.S. progressed Ceres and Isis, both at 0+ Aries, the famous “Aries Point” where “the personal is political”. Ceres, commonly referred to as Earth Mother, combined with Isis, the goddess who restored her husband the god Osiris, after he was torn to shreds, say it’s the perfect time to Wake Up America.
Perhaps further pain in the pocketbooks of the powerful is an indication of how these gods and goddesses intend to make their point, but, due to Uranus’ retrograde movement, we might not see the breakthrough until mid-March, when Uranus returns in direct motion to his full moon position, where he will exact his last of those 7 squares to Pluto in Capricorn. Mid March also holds an almost simultaneous Pisces total solar eclipse and the Spring Equinox (Sun on the Aries Point). Don’t underestimate the power of emotion to change the world we live in.
be
“Buying into the system” is investing in it, isn’t it, aprilius! You’ve reminded me how much language we use that has to do with ‘consuming;’ almost as bad as our ‘war’ references, and we don’t even realize it. Where we put our resources matter as much as where we put our attention, talent, appreciation. To be mind-full is the key. Thanks for your thoughts today.
Ah, Market Basket — the tale of two Arthurs! I read that they’ve settled, Holly, the much-loved Arthur purchasing the 50.5% he needed from his cousin (and company;) that has made those who supported the ‘good’ Arthur very happy. I don’t know how much this will impact, nation-wise, but it is surely encouraging for workers everywhere seeking their own happy ending. Our evolution needs a revolution, as regards worker rights!
The [East Coast] Market Basket chain certainly has loyal customers, which must be reflected in its product and service. That’s the way it’s supposed to be! Consumer Reports ranked Market Basket at #6 among national supermarkets in their 2014 ratings, and CR’s reputation is essentially spotless. I garden and also take advantage of what the Amish offer, locally. On a larger scale, I don’t have a lot of choices here in the Pea Patch, but when I occasionally get to the city, I like to shop at employee-owned places, like Food-For-Less and, when in CA, WinCo. Here’s a read that called the Market Basket strike a class war, and here’s the outcome of a few days ago.
As well, I was born in the SF Bay Area, Holly — I thought EVERY place had a KQED until I started moving around! Ha! Good, dependable progressive sources, all of them. Thanks for your comments today.
You’ve got it goin’ on, Deborah! Crossing all the t’s and dotting the i’s — very commendable! And I’m glad you gave BofA the boot, it really is too big for its britches these days. If you get a chance, though, read how it started. I love this story, a “local boy makes good” tale I heard growing up.
Sad what BofA … what ALL of the big banks … came to. And to think that it was Big Dog Bill Clinton that unleashed the regulations that bound them to any pretense of ethical behavior! With all the demonizing Pubs do about regulation, it’s becoming clearer by the day that regulation equals accountability. Without it? Plutocracy and eventual anarchy.
Goodness, Greg, you really are a minimalist. I understand that, living so close to the bone here in rural MO. I’m not sure all of us are up to wintering in a tent, however. The system is, as you say, dangerously indulgent, of course, and mindlessly destructive. I read that the #1 pollutant in our oceans now is plastic. I was also pleased to note that California just passed a measure to ban (single use) plastic grocery bags, first state to do so. Thanks for adding your experience and giving us another look at the options.
Most kind of you, Amanda. I try to make it clear, each week, that insanity is a choice we don’t have to make. I’m delighted that you agree. Bless you for stopping by, come again.
And DivaCarla, I admire your day. I did manage to market myself, briefly — got some lovely jalapenos at a local stand to add to the pico de gallo I make regularly. This batch will be to serve fresh, couple of weeks ago I put up 13 quarts for ‘no home-grown tomato’ season, which is coming right up. I’ll attempt to get to the pico on Monday, right now I’m cooking down marinara sauce (30 pounds of tomatoes) to put up tomorrow. Gotta find some cupboard space. I made a dozen or so pints of plum jam at the beginning of the month and as I was stashing them in nooks and crannies, I forgot to jot down “rearrange everything!” on my to-do list!
It’s been a busy-bee August, but all this lovely “summer” in a jar makes the winter easier to celebrate. The local’s have ways of forecasting the weather future — ‘forks and spoons’ inside a persimmon, wooly caterpillars or their absence, and [old dependable] Farmers Almanac. They’ve decided it will be a very harsh winter and we should all prepare. So … I guess I’m good, at least I’ve got jam and tomatoes!
I had about $100 cash in my wallet today. Here is how I voted:
At the Farmer’s market, spreading the wealth among 7 food producers living within 25 miles of my home.
At the gas station… Irving… Canadian owned. We will not let them build the pipeline across our state…
At the local roast coffee shop
At the ice cream shop, where I had a yummy scoop of ice cream made in Waldo County, about 25 miles from my house.
At the food coop, where I was buying some bulk items. Some days these are local, but not sure about today.
However, I did run into my district’s candidate for the State Senate, where we talked a little policy, and prospects for our state’s hoped for change of administration. He was buying some groceries at the coop. He and his wife are working members.
It’s $100, not $100 million. So a few million of us need to spend that $100 well, and local.
At a screening of Symphony of the Soil last week, the filmmaker and other experts said the best we can do to rebuild soil (and thus the real wealth of our planet) is to promote the local food movement. It doesn’t seem fast enough.
So I have some cash in my wallet, along with various id and debit cards and a driver’s license. The real wealth is in my shoes, between my toes, and under my fingernails. It is not dirt, it’s soil.
Thank you for always being my sane and grounded reality check on the weekends – even if you’re reporting on utter insanity. Your column is invaluable.
There’s nothing in my wallet. Not even a driver’s license. I may be sleeping in a tent but I’m living within my means for the first time in my life, buying nothing on credit. Taking on a simpler life is one way of the future. I drove myself crazy trying to juggle the varied notions of what’s necessary to be human in the culture that introduced me to the world. Car, rent, insurance, phone, electricity, water, garbage, and the ravenous appetite for electric entertainments cost more money than I’ve ever been able to make by working. Only by sucking on lines of credit could I maintain the kind of life my parents taught me to want. Bike, tent, acoustic guitar, backpack: that I can handle. Home studio in a house and a car to haul around a mountain of electric gear: too much money, too high a pull on the planet’s resources, too many distracting pulls. Everybody poops, but pooping in drinking water and wiping up with bleached paper is a wasteful and difficult and resource sucking way to do it. All you need is water to clean up your parts and maybe a little soap. So what if you get stuff on your hand: it’s washable. Bleached paper is full of poisons anyway, poisons that poison water in their making as well as in their use. If we didn’t poop in our drinking water but pooped in the ground as nature intended then there’d be enough water to wash our butts. It’s little things like this that add up to a crazy system of living that leaves islands of plastic and pollution behind.
Judith, thanks for your keen perception on the issues as well as your ability to succinctly assess and express collective consciousness so personally. So true, our vote has become way less meaningful than our pocketbooks. After being credited as a producer on the doc, “The Koch Brothers Exposed”, (no biggy, I got a cool t-shirt with Shephard Ferry’s octopus-armed design for my contribution of $50), my Koch products boycott started in earnest. I haven’t seen the inside of a Walmart since the doc, “The High Cost of Low Prices” and haven’t eaten anything with a face or nervous system since watching the film, “Earthlings”, so BK is a no-brainer as I can easily do without pink slime on a GMO bun. When I left BofA for a small local bank I told them I’d rather keep it all under the mattress than support their big bank criminal policies. All we have left it seems, is our vote and our dwindling monies, so let’s use them both…and use them wisely. Thanks for your help with that, Judith.
Yes, all the above is true. What are your thoughts about the Market Basket case up in New England? Would that have any impact on workers across the country? I get my fix of news from Fark.com. They has hilarious headlines, but it’s true. Other sources for me is NPR, KPCC (L.A radio station), KQED (San Francisco radio station) and The Takeaway (NYC talk radio show). As you can see, I have a pretty liberal slant on the news.
Every purchase is a political statement. My view is that by literally buying into the system as is we support it. Interesting that the list of Koch holdings is topped by toilet paper. Everybody poops!