John Steinbeck, "East of Eden," Chapter 34

A child may ask, 'What is the world's story about?' And a grown man or woman may wonder, 'What way will the world go? How does it end and, while we're at it, what's the story about?'

I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one, that has frightened and inspired us, so that we live in a Pearl White serial of continuing thought and wonder. Humans are caught in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too -- in a net of good and evil. I think this is the only story we have and that it occurs on all levels of feeling and intelligence. Virtue and vice were warp and woof (old terms for weaving cloth) of our first consciousness, and they will be the fabric of our last, and this despite changes we might impose on field and river and mountain, on economy and manners. There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well -- or ill?

Herodotus, in the Persian War, tells a story of how Croesus, the richest and most favoured King of his time, asked Solon the Athenian, a leading question. He would not have asked it if he had he not been worried about the answer. 'Who,' he asked, 'is the luckiest person in the world?' He must have been eaten with doubt, and hungry for reassurance. Solon told him of three lucky people in old times. And Croesus more than likely did not listen; so anxious was he about himself. And when Solon did not mention him, Croesus was forced to say, 'Do you consider me lucky?'

Solon did not hesitate in his answer. 'How can I tell?' he said. 'You aren't dead yet.'

And this answer must have haunted Croesus dismally as his luck disappeared, and his wealth and his kingdom. And as he was being burned on a tall fire, he may have thought of it and perhaps wished he had not asked or not been answered.

And in our time, when a man dies -- if he has had wealth and influence, power and all the vestments that arouse envy, and after the living take stock of the dead man's property and his eminence and works and monuments -- the question is still there: Was his life good or was it evil? -- which is another way of putting Croesus's question. Envies are gone, and the measuring stick is: Was he loved or was he hated? Is his death felt as a loss or does a kind of joy come of it?

 I remember clearly the deaths of three men. One was the richest man of the century, who, having clawed his way to wealth through the souls and bodies of men, spent many years trying to buy back the love he had forfeited and by that process performed great service to the world and, perhaps, had much more than balanced the evils of his rise. I was on a ship when he died. The news was posted on the bulletin board, and nearly everyone received the news with pleasure. Several said 'Thank God that son of a bitch is dead.'

Then there was a man, smart as Satan, who, lacking some perception of human dignity and knowing all too well every aspect of human weakness and wickedness, used his special knowledge to warp men, to buy men, to bribe and threaten and seduce until he found himself in a position of great power. He clothed his motives in the names of virtue, and I wondered if he ever knew that no gift will ever buy back a man's love when you have removed his self-love. A bribed man can only hate his briber. When this man died, the nation rang with praise, and just beneath, with gladness that he was dead.

There was a third man, who perhaps made many errors in performance, but whose effective life was devoted to making men brave and dignified and good in a time when they were poor and frightened and when there were ugly forces loose in the world to ultilize their fears. This man was hated by the few. When he did, the people burst into tears in the streets and their minds wailed, 'What can we do now? How can we go on without him?'

In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved. Indeed, most of their vices are attempted shortcuts to love. When a man comes to die, no matter what his talents and influence and genius, if he dies unloved, his life must be a failure to him, and his dying a cold horror. It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action we should remember our dying so to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world.

 We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly re-spawn, while good, while virtue, is immortal. Vice has always a new, fresh young face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is.

Flashmob Video

I never get tired of watching this.

An Open Letter to Michelle Dugger

An Open Letter to Michelle Duggar As She Celebrates Her Victory In Repealing Anti LGBT Discrimination Laws
By Carissa House-Dunphy on December 13, 2014

Dear Mrs. Duggar,
Over the years, I have often defended you to friends and in online comments that criticize the life you have chosen for yourself. I’ve seen and heard comments that describe your family as abusive since your older children become caretakers of the younger while many feel that they should be enjoying their youth, and that you blatantly exploit your children by allowing cameras to record their every awkward and private moment for your own profit.

I have defended you despite how differently your life is structured from my own. I never chose to have children, and I’ve taken a lot of criticism and have been the target of a lot of confused reactions to that choice. Despite my own feelings about whether or not to become a mother, I have always defended your right to have as many children as you wanted and to earn money to raise those children in any way that you saw fit. I would never support any law that discriminated against you for your religious beliefs or your decision to birth nineteen children. I would never stand for our government limiting your right to express those beliefs, or allow a landlord to discriminate against you by refusing to rent you a home to house your family of twenty-one, or an employer to discriminate against you by refusing to allow you 19 separate maternity leaves. You see, Mrs. Duggar, I get that your being granted those rights doesn’t affect or harm me in any way. None of my beliefs about motherhood, marriage, or religion are challenged by your own, nor are my rights limited because you’re allowed the right to live a different lifestyle than mine.

You and I were both raised in a Christian church. The core beliefs, similarly, were based on the words of Jesus. Somehow, though, I missed those passages printed in the Bible in red where Jesus said that we must discriminate against others in order to follow His teachings. Instead, I was taught Biblical passages such as “Judge not lest ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1), “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31), and “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40).

While you celebrate your successful campaign to repeal anti-LGBT legislation in your town that would prevent housing and employment discrimination based on a tenant’s or employee’s sexual identity, I stand here, confused. While the country screams “discrimination!” and “unconstitutional!” over a decision to kick Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson out of the NFL because one chose to abuse his wife and the other his child, there is still such a large faction of fundamentalist Christians who believe that they should be allowed to discriminate in hiring an LGBT person. While landlords rent every day to people who commit all sorts of sins, as we all do according to the Bible (“All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23), the messages you received in church somehow told you that your sins are lighter and less offensive to Christianity than the sins of others. I’m not sure, Mrs. Duggar, that you and I really were both raised in a Christian church with a Christian message.

You see, I understand that making life more difficult for LGBT people will not reduce the numbers of people who identify as other than heterosexual, nor should that even be a goal. LGBT persons have lived and struggled to be accepted despite decades, centuries even, of LGBT living as targets of violence and discrimination.
I also know that it is not an increase in protections for LGBT people, or same-sex marriage rights, or work in eliminating the discrimination levied against transgender people, that are turning people away from the Christian church. It’s hypocrisy. Hypocrisy such as yours, Mrs. Duggar, in thinking that any sin you commit should be weighed less heavily or considered less of a sin than anyone else’s. Hypocrisy such as yours, also, in saying “I’m a Christian” despite your lack of kindness toward and acceptance of other people.

Yet, I’ll continue to defend your choices. I’ll continue to do so because I DID hear those messages in church that told me that I was not better than anyone else in the eyes of God. I heard those messages that told me not to judge others. I heard those messages that told me that God sees my sins as no different than anyone else’s.

I heard the words of Jesus that told me to love others.
Sincerely,
Carissa

I"ll See Your Reasons, And Raise You Measured Data

I found it.
Actually I just ran across it accidentally while reading the econoblogs and following links, but I had been wondering if there was a simple presentation of this somewhere.

A Facebook friend of a friend had commented on my friend's post saying that volcanos produce way more carbon dioxide than humans.  This was in the context of global warming isn't real because, you know, reasons.  There was a strong suggestion that she believed that the thousands of climate scientists around the globe over the last several decades had somehow failed to account for the amount of CO² produced by volcanos, and possibly other natural sources, in their measurements, and that, since she knew about this and they didn't, that she had knowledge superior to the so-called experts.

Okay, that sounded a bit more contemptuous than I intended, but I'm going to let it stand.

My reading last night led me to this article, which had the following graphs.

  The black line in each graph represents actual measured temperatures, and the red line in the top graph represents the median temperature predicted through modeling.  The top graph represents both natural and man made contributions to greenhouse gasses.
    The bottom graph removes the man made contributions from the equation, the blue line representing the median temperature predicted through modeling.  This chart would cover everything natural, like volcanos, cow farts, and forest fires.
   So yes, it seems that someone has indeed taken the time to figure out how things would be if we weren't around to screw things up.

I've Been Published!

...well, reposted anyway.

Moderation

The last post did something I have hoped all of my posts would do: it started a conversation on Facebook.  Yay!  But I had to use the delete button on the post linking to my blog.  I feel I need to explain.

I have one reason, and one reason only (so far) for unfriending someone on Facebook, and that is that they don't post enough to be interesting.  I don't unfriend everyone who fills that description, for there are other reasons to keep in touch with people, but I won't unfriend someone who I don't agree with, or even someone I don't like much, as long as they keep me entertained and are willing to talk to me. That being said, I do keep my finger on the delete button when it comes to specific comments. And I have rules to help me decide what to delete.

My friend Bobby has been a person of ideological persuasion, but some of his recent Facebook posts have hinted that he wants to move toward a more empirical approach to understanding the issues of the day.  This pleases me, but as he is new to the process, he doesn't always know where to look.  The comments he posted were some quotes from some people with rather fringe ideas, which he explained as an effort to understand the political roots of the movement.  I don't believe he's going to find that understanding on the fringe. 
    He didn't quite violate the first rule, which is "The comment must have something to do with the post," but it did have the potential to move the conversation away from the subject, so once our discussion re his comments was over, I deleted it, lest someone else get involved.

My friend Jason is a special case.  He's on a journey which I've already been on.  I came out all right, but there are several places he could wind up at the end, some of them good, some of them worry me, but he's got to make this journey on his own because his circumstances are unique to him, and he's dealing with a lot.  (I'm sorry if I'm being cryptic about this, but it concerns a subject that I don't discuss on social media.) 
    Unfortunately, Jason's comments can sometimes invite abuse, often because they can appear abusive in themselves, as Gaby pointed out to me last night.  But when I can help it, I don't intend to let anyone abuse him.  If one wants to argue the merits of his comment, that's perfectly alright, and you are certainly welcome to ridicule his poor spelling and grammar, but remember, my finger hovers over the delete button, and I can make it all go away.

Freedom, And Those Who Oppose It

Monday afternoon, I went to the local craft store to buy some paint brushes for a model I'm working on.  A young lady I know works in that department, and she asked me how I was doing.  I said, "Fantastic.  My marriage is recognised in the state where I live, my husband is no longer an illegal alien, we both have jobs and health insurance--I feel freer than I've felt in my whole life."
    "Feels good, doesn't it," she said.
    "Absolutely."

Monday morning, the Supreme Court announced that they had declined to hear the appeal from the 10th Circuit Court, effectively making same-sex marriage legal in Oklahoma and four other states.  Among my friends there was much rejoicing.  My friend Michael posted, "Gay marriage is now legal in Oklahoma. Words cannot express my happiness for this moment and my thanks goes out to my friends in Tulsa who pushed hard for this moment. We weren't state #50 for this to happen!!!"
    Not everyone shared in that jubilation, however.  Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin issued her official response later that day.

“The people of Oklahoma have the right to determine how marriage is defined. In 2004, Oklahomans exercised that right, voting by a margin of 3-1 to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

“The will of the people has now been overridden by unelected federal justices, accountable to no one. That is both undemocratic and a violation of states’ rights. Rather than allowing states to make their own policies that reflect the values and views of their residents, federal judges have inserted themselves into a state issue to pursue their own agendas.

“Today’s decision has been cast by the media as a victory for gay rights. What has been ignored, however, is the right of Oklahomans – and Americans in every state – to write their own laws and govern themselves as they see fit. Those rights have once again been trampled by an arrogant, out-of -control federal government that wants to substitute Oklahoma values with Washington, D.C. values.”

 Now, I can't say that I'm actually sure that Governor Fallin believes her statement.  Certainly from a legal and historical perspective it makes no sense.  Notice that she's still talking about a vote that took place ten years ago. Since then, attitudes have shifted, and demographics have changed--maybe not enough to move Oklahoma into the pro-civil rights column, but today's 27-year-olds were not old enough to vote back then.  But then, she also never explains why we were voting on basic civil and human rights to begin with, except for that tired old canard about the "definition of marriage." 
It's funny to me that she tries to make the point that the Supreme Court Justices are "unelected."  Of course they are unelected.  If they had been elected,  they would be basing their decisions on the will of likely voters instead of the one thing they are supposed to be accountable to: the US Constitution.  Furthermore, "all U.S. state constitutions are subject to federal judicial review; any provision can be nullified if it conflicts with the US Constitution."*  In fact, Governor Fallin herself swore to uphold the Constitution in her Oath of Office.  And whether she likes it or not, the 14th Amendment is a part of the US Constitution, and has been for 39 years longer than Oklahoma has been a state.
    But in one way, her statement makes a lot of sense:  she's up for re-election, and she's calculating that saying something like this in a state as conservative as Oklahoma will get her a lot of votes.  She's probably right.

    In Washington DC, Ted Cruz also had something to say.

     "In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever."

Okay, that was actually someone else, but the spirit was just the same. What he actually said was:

“...This is judicial activism at its worst. The Constitution entrusts state legislatures, elected by the People, to define marriage consistent with the values and mores of their citizens. Unelected judges should not be imposing their policy preferences to subvert the considered judgments of democratically elected legislatures..."

This is, of course, a ridiculous statement, as I'm sure he knows.  Most Federal and state courts in the US have the power of judicial revue, and have had since 1803.  It's their job.  It's what they do.

“It is beyond dispute that when the 14th Amendment was adopted 146 years ago, as a necessary post-Civil War era reform, it was not imagined to also mandate same-sex marriage, but that is what the Supreme Court is implying today. The Court is making the preposterous assumption that the People of the United States somehow silently redefined marriage in 1868 when they ratified the 14th Amendment..."

The Supreme Court is not implying that, or anything else.  They, and all the courts that the case has gone through, are stating explicitly that, because of the 14th Amendment, you cannot create one set of laws for one kind of people and another set of laws for another kind of people if all of those people are US citizens, and that you can't create laws that rob a certain subset of people of their basic civil and human rights based simply on who they are.  And this "definition of marriage" crap doesn't change that.

“...Marriage is a question for the States. That is why I have introduced legislation, S. 2024, to protect the authority of state legislatures to define marriage. And that is why, when Congress returns to session, I will be introducing a constitutional amendment to prevent the federal government or the courts from attacking or striking down state marriage laws."

The US Constitution is a document that protects the liberties of the individual, and here he is wanting to add an amendment that will take away liberties from some based on who they are.  And I have friends who agree with him.  When I posted an article about this on Facebook, one friend responded, "Good I hope does take action. I support him 100%. He actually has some backbone!"  I pointed out that that could also be said of Orval Faubus and George Wallace.
But I don't believe that it's "backbone" that he has; what he has is a lot of cynicism.  He knows that in the unlikely event that his bill makes it out of committee, it would never be approved by the American public.  He's taking advantage of the ignorance and indignation of his constituents, banking on their belief that these things will change.  But the evolution of America has always been toward liberty and freedom, sometimes in halting jerky steps, frequently with seemingly insurmountable obstacles, but always managing to move forward somehow. 
    "Liberty and justice for all" is not just a motto; it's our destiny.

The Grapes of Wrath

Photos are from the May 1999 performance at
The Theatre School at DePaul University

Last night, some friends of ours and Gaby and I went to see City Rep's production of  The Grapes of Wrath at the Burg Theater at OCU.  This story, whether we're talking about the book or the movie, has always had an emotional impact on me (I frequently tell people that Chapter 15 is my favorite short story,)  But this was the first time to see the play.  I have to say, the play is better than the movie.
    There are so many things that go through my mind when I think of this story. This morning I was telling Gaby about wanting to write this blog post, and expressing my worry that I wouldn't be able to completely convey the thoughts and feelings it stirs within me.  It happens a lot that I think of writing something, and by the time I get to it, much of the inspiration has faded, and the words along with it.  But I'm going to give it a shot, realizing that I may have to come back to revise it later.
    My uncle, my Dad's brother, who happens to be a Baptist preacher, came to town to visit just after the 2012 elections, and my Dad and he were complaining about the results of that election, my uncle saying that Obama had duped all the blacks and all the Mexicans ("And the gays," my aunt chimed in,) and that's why he'd won, with all of his deceptive campaigning.
    Now, I'm not out to anyone on my Dad's side of the family, just out of respect to my Dad, and I didn't care to participate in the conversation, but the things that were said have all been stuck in my memory, and I've pondered them frequently.  To begin with, I voted for Obama in both elections, but I don't remember a single thing that was said in his campaign that made me want to vote for him either time.  Instead, all of my attention was on his opponent. In 2008, I voted for him because he wasn't McCain; in 2012, it was because he wasn't a Republican.  In 2008, my understanding of economics had changed: by 2012, it was my understanding of politics.  He's actually the first Democrat I've ever voted for in a major election.
    Later that night, we went out to dinner, and for some reason, the movie The Grapes of Wrath came up, and I mentioned that I had just gotten the DVD.  My uncle wanted to watch it, so I went back to my house and got it.  We watched it on the big screen TV at my parents' house.  I've wondered sometimes how my Dad and his brother see the social, economic and political premise of the story.  It's certainly opposed to their politico-economic views in ways that are obvious to me.

Watching the play last night, certain scenes brought a lot of this back to me.  I can see and hear some of my friends playing certain roles, saying certain lines very convincingly because they've said it all before on Facebook.  Every time someone was called a "red" or an "agitator" because they banded together to demand more than starvation wages, I saw Facebook posts critical of unions and raising the minimum wage.  Michelle Bachman has said that if the minimum wage was eliminated altogether, “we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level.”  She seems to have no understanding that more workers would simply end up with lower wages and less purchasing power, causing the economy to slow and generate fewer jobs. Steinbeck addresses this notion in several chapters, but one in particular tells about people being hired to pick peaches and being paid two and a half cents per three gallon bucket -- "You know what two an' a half is---that's one ton of peaches picked an' carried for a dollar... You can't get your food for that.  Can't eat for that."  As economist Robert Reich points out, "It is no great feat for an economy to create a large number of jobs paying very little. Slavery, after all, was a full-employment system."
    The most heart wrenching scene, though, in the play, the movie, and the book takes place in a camp in New Mexico.  A "ragged man" is describing in graphic detail watching his wife and children starve to death because he couldn't find work.  "I can't tell ya about them little fellas layin' in the tent with their bellies puffed out an' jus' skin on their bones, an' shiverin' an' whinin' like pups, an' me runnin' aroun' tryin' to get work---not for money, not for wages!  Jesus Christ, jus' for a cup a flour an' a spoon a lard.  An' then the coroner come."  The man running the camp described him as a "troublemaker" and a "labor faker," saying, "Man wants to work, O.K.  If he don't--the hell with him.  We ain't gonna let him stir up no trouble."  SOH John Boehner said recently, "I think this idea that’s been born out the last – maybe out of the economy last couple of years that, 'you know, I really don’t have to work. I don’t really want to do this, I think I’d just rather sit around.' This is a very sick idea for our country."  This is the attitude toward the poor and unemployed that's been propagated in recent times, and even voiced by my Dad.  It seems that a lot of people think that the solution to the ragged man's problem was that he just needed to get up off his lazy ass and find a job, and if he didn't, to hell with him.  In an economy where there are more people looking for work than there are jobs, that makes no sense, but a lot of  people seem to believe that if we take away their unemployment insurance and force them to look for work, the jobs will magically appear. 
    People will do what they need to do to survive, of course, but not everyone will understand what drives them to do what they do.  After the Joad family left a sevice station in Needles, and set out across the Mojave Desert, one of the service station attendants said of them, "Them goddamn Okies got no sense and no feeling.  They ain't human.  A human being wouldn't live like they do.  A human being couldn't stand it to be so dirty and miserable.  They ain't a hell of a lot better than gorillas... You know, they don't have much trouble.  They're so goddamn dumb they don't know it's dangerous.  And, Christ Almighty, they don't know any better than what they got.  Why worry?"  There's no understanding  here that sometimes there are circumstances beyond the control of the individual; there are larger forces at work.  But like Shakespeare wrote, "Everyone can master a grief but he that has it."
    Anyway, these are just some of the things I see when Steinbeck speaks to me.  I don't really understand why my Dad and his brother don't see the same things, but I guess they just watch the movie for the nostalgia.

Krugman: John Boehner’s Theory of the Leisure Class

Every once in a while, I see someone on Facebook post a reference to this.  I thought Paul Krugman's explanation about why this is a fictional scenario was well put, so here it is.

John Boehner says that unemployed Americans are pretty clearly malingerers, bums on welfare who have decided that they don’t feel like working:

“This idea that has been born, maybe out of the economy over the last couple years, that you know, I really don’t have to work. I don’t really want to do this. I think I’d rather just sit around. This is a very sick idea for our country,” he said.
“If you wanted something you worked for it,” Boehner said, adding, “Trust me, I did it all.”

I could point to the overwhelming economic evidence that nothing like this is happening — after all, if what we were seeing was a mass withdrawal of labor supply, we should be seeing wages for those still willing to work taking off. What we actually see is this:

Photo

Credit

I could also point to zero interest rates and low inflation as evidence that we’re living in a demand-constrained economy. I could ask how, exactly, Boehner believes that increased willingness to work would conjure more jobs into existence.

But what really gets me here is the fact that people like Boehner are so obviously disconnected from the lived experience of ordinary workers. I mean, I live a pretty rarefied existence, with job security and a nice income and a generally upscale social set — but even so I know a fair number of people who have spent months or years in desperate search of jobs that still aren’t there. How cut off (or oblivious) can someone be who thinks that it’s just because they don’t want to work?

When I see stuff like this, I always think of the opening of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre:

Anyone who is willing to work and is serious about it will certainly find a job. Only you must not go to the man who tells you this, for he has no job to offer and doesn’t know anyone who knows of a vacancy. This is exactly the reason why he gives you such generous advice, out of brotherly love, and to demonstrate how little he knows the world.

The Bolin Rant (language)

John Bolin · Miami, FL · . Posted in response to someone suggesting my step-son is somewhat of a lazy bum that is just trying to suck momma's titties at the age of 26. Well, I broke it down and saw things just aren't very attractive for a young man his age in Miami. MOVE, you say? THAT costs fuckin' money as well. When I was younger in the 80's and saw those goddamned "poor people" on television all I thought was they should just fucking MOVE and find a city with more work and better wages. It didn't dawn on me that MOVING costs a shitload of money; finding a new home in an alien area with no friends or family is NOT an easy thing. For a SINGLE young man it is do-able, in a way. For a formerly well-employed father of 3, with a wife that worked part-time to help supplement the income, but lost her job as well as he losing his, it is NOT that goddamned simple, ESPECIALLY with a motherfucking GOP Congress that has voted down nearly 30 jobs bills, 5 veterans assistance bills, nixed the break on student loans, and killed the unemployment benefits to the long-term unemployed, who continue seeking jobs, despite there being ONE job for every THREE job seekers. Gotta love the GOP and the motherfuckin', goddamned US of A that seeks to create and continue MASSIVE tax breaks for the top 1% as well as the 25% of top corporations that pay ZERO in taxes and most of which receive BILLIONS in taxpayer dollars to help them along. Cocksuckers. All of you GOP pieces of shit. Let's go GUILLOTINES! God, I hope I live long enough to see some BALLS grow in this nation. Hey, I'll be more than happy to stand the front lines. Just let me exercise my absurd 2nd Amendment RIGHTS to enforce a little FAIRNESS in our evil system bought and paid for by those calling corporations people. Gotta clean up my comments sometimes. RE: Miss Donna, my step-son actually works his ass off, but thanks to this ABSURD economy wherein we hard working people believe it is perfectly swell for some people to make 500 TIMES what other TRULY hard working people make, it is hard for young people to stand a chance and pay the incredibly high cost of living in Miami. After all, if you wish to rent a ROOM in someone's house you can expect to pay between $650 to $5,000 PER MONTH, depending on where it is. For a ROOM, NOT a house or an apartment. Let us do the math. At $10.00 per hour, fully 40% MORE than "minimum wage", a person MAY bring home $325.00 per week, as long as there are no rain days or holidays or sick days, things people are rarely paid for anymore, a person can pay $600.00 per month for an extremely CHEAP HOVEL - I mean, a ROOM in someone else's hovel - then pay $150 per month for a bus pass, since most assuredly a CAR at $200 or so per month - cheap-assed USED piece of junk car is not affordable, especially with $200 dollars per month in insurance for a younger person. Food? Oh, that lazy bastard wants to eat as well? Okay, we'll provide some cheap chuck wagon trucks that'll give him something for $5 to $6.00 per day...$30 per week. Okay, lunch and rent equals $150.00 per week, out of that $325. OH?!!! You want electricity to go with that room? Do ya' want cable television as well, you greedy bastard? Add another $50 per week. Where are we? Hmmm, about $200.00 per week. What the fuck now, you actually want breakfast or dinner as well? Friggin' GREEDY working people, when will they stop their greed?!!! Shee-it, that's another $100 per week, if you buy cheap shit that will fill you up while starving your body of actual nutrients, which are entirely too expensive for you goddamned working people to buy. Okay, so where are we now with that MASSIVE paycheck that is 40% MORE than minimum wage? Oh, $300.00 per week. What? Now you want a fucking telephone as well? Dayum, these people have no limits on their desires! Fucking dregs of society, these working people! Fuck it, you still have $25.00 per week to pay for your healthcare, clothes, awesome nights out at the restaurant and clubs, and your 401K retirement savings. Goddamned working people just need to straighten up and start living right and saving MORE. What?! NOW you say you have an actual KID? Are you fucking NUTS? How the hell are you gonna pay for THAT outrageous expense? We need to sterilize all people making under $20 per hour to help us REAL hard workers from paying for those lazy bums by subsidizing their easy lifestyle of foodstamps and welfare. Sons-of-bitches. Taking money out of MY pocket when I try so very hard to save...so I can donate the multi BILLIONS my nation's tax code just GIVES to the largest corporations and the top 1% of wealth holders. That is my only job. My existence and reason for being is to help subsidize the 1% and the world's most profitable and largest corporations in history. 3 mins · Like .. John Bolin Write a comment... LikeLike · · Share 14 people like this. . Jimmi Rorie I hear you.On disability and can't move without sacrificing something,even working part time. 1% of the population controls 90% of the income. Ripe for a 2nd American Revolution 11 hrs · Like · 3 .. Enaj Eod Amazing how many people just don't get simple math. 11 hrs · Like · 2 .. Noreen Manvell Every time I write about the increase in crime and needing to protect ourselves, some arrogant asshole tells me to move. Makes me want to punch him in the face. Life you say, moving costs money. But also, I'll be goddamned if some punk criminals are going to chase me away from my little house that we've had for over 20 years. The crime is not from within our neighborhood - it is gangbangers and punks coming here from other places looking for easy victims. They are always shocked when they realize that every single house in this 'hood has dogs and guns and we aren't afraid to use them. I'm only moving when I have a better job and it will make me more money for a higher quality of life. Until then, we are hunkering down and not letting punks chase us out of our homes. Last time I moved from California to Tennessee it cost about $6,000 - and that was not using a moving van company - I couldn't afford those guys - so I had to give away half of my shit. Worse than getting a damn divorce. 10 hrs · Like · 1 .. Enaj Eod And you have to wonder--don't those people realize that crime is not only everywhere but is totally mobile too. *smh . . . people . . . sigh. 10 hrs · Like · 2 .. Mary Lambertha He can stay with you..work..pay you rent and then you give him back the rent in 6 months or so and he will have deposit money for a place. It can be done. I know several people that support families on a fraction of what i make. If his priorities are right he can make it 10 hrs · Like · 3 .. Dallas Bingham Ummmmm....... Just sayin, you can get a good job if you are willing to take on the work load and education. Maybe Miami is not the place to live if all those evil republican bastards that have to foot the bill on their workforce's health care insurance cannot afford to pay you better wages....... Maybe you reevaluate your democratic position on those GOD DAMN 1%ers and realize that in order to provide a service and pay their taxes and your wages, and your healthcare maybe 10 bucks an hour is all they can afford too! Just saying, maybe those greedy fucking business owners are not the problem. Maybe overpopulation and government rule is the culprit. But what do I know? I am just some snot nosed little Fuck without a college education and a six figure income that I went and earned myself.......And I love my guns! 10 hrs · Like · 2 .. Mary Lambertha I got dumped by a fb friend when i was bitching about my neighborhood..she says..just move...him...yea..a family of 4..kids in school..i dont have thousands to put on just moving..i told her to get out in the world more and she would stop saying stupid shit like that. 10 hrs · Like · 4 .. John Bolin I made plenty of money in my day, Dallas, and I was not overly "regulated", though my best earning years were dealing drugs. You, however, have had the incredible luxury of a FAMILY, a HOME, and OPPORTUNITY. Many people do NOT have that, but that is unimaginable for some who have had such privileges. Regarding income, just try and consider the actual NUMBERS that are indisputable. 60% of ALL the wealth created in the US the last 30 years has gone to 1% of the population. Why? Oh, they work so much "harder". Right. 95% of ALL the gains during the anemic "economic recovery" of the last 6 years has gone to the 1%. 95%. I wonder just how far along you'd be with NO family connections and no helpful uncles and no wonderful mother and great dad? By the way, I managed to open 3 companies and SOMEHOW didn't starve despite one of my most successful companies paying 50% above minimum wage in a job description that was a minimum wage job - yes, my little "John's Lawns...PLUS" company in Arkansas. Hell, I paid my help $7.00 per our their FIRST day as well as bought them breakfast AND lunch, another $15 or so for the day, and IF they worked well gave them a dollar an hour raise their second day. NEVER did I go hungry. If you cannot run a business and pay your employees a LIVING wage you have NO BUSINESS being IN BUSINESS in this country. PERIOD. I am NOT some "commie pig bastard" seeking re-distribution of wealth, although we have witnessed the largest transfer - redistribution - in world history the last 30 years in this nation, FROM the working poor and middle classes to the top 1%. When the CEO's of major corporations went from making 40 times their average salaried worker in the 80's to over 380 TIMES that much today, something is slightly askew. When the tax code has taken corporations from paying 40% of the U.S. Government's total revenues in 1948 to less than 10% today, do ya' know WHO is picking up that tax bill? Our supposedly outrageous high corporate taxes are a MYTH. IN 2012 25% of the top 500 corporations not only paid ZERO in taxes on their profits, but actually received government "checks" - WELFARE - to the tune of many billions of dollars. As long as you are happy subsidizing them, power to you. Keep bitching about the working poor who work every bit as hard as you. Surely they are the problem, NOT the massive redistribution of wealth, thanks to a tax code which is MAN-MADE, and corporate-purchased and paid-for, which allows Bill Gates or Warren Buffet or the Koch Brothers to pay LESS in taxes as a percentage of income than you do. Keep picking up their tab and kissing their greedy asses. You probably think you will be one of them someday, but in the U.S. you have the LEAST likely chance of entering their pay grade than ANY Industrialized nation on earth. Good luck. 9 hrs · Like · 4 .. John Bolin Incidentally, Dallas, not to drag up simple facts, but when a nation has all of its wealth concentrated in the hands of a very small handful of people, that nation goes to hell in a, get this, hand bag, very rapidly. The middle classes and working people are the DRIVERS of the economy. When they have no disposable income jobs are LOST; hence, this bullshit we see now in the anemic "recovery" we have after experiencing the last great GOP leader who led us into two wars without paying for them, cutting the stock market in HALF, losing 800,000 JOBS PER MONTH in his heyday, and jacking our federal budget deficit up to $1.2 TRILLION dollars. I won't mention we've seen 250,000 jobs PER MONTH created for the entirety of this year, nor the FACT that for the FIRST TIME since Clinton, and only the second time in 50 years the Federal Budget deficit has been reduced, to HALF the Bush legacy...oh, the stock market has more than DOUBLED during these last 6 years. Obama is truly a HORRIBLE "socialist" leader. That fuck. 9 hrs · Like · 3 .. Dallas Bingham And I would like to remind you, to repeatedly and vigorously go Fuck yourself. And good day. I agree with 90% of what you say, just still like to think that this country has a chance. Let's just start the new American revolution. All will be well when the streets run red with the blood of the weak, the worthless and the dumb. Allah bless the USA! Or Buddha or Jesus, Christ, not the taco guy down the street. 9 hrs · Like .. John Bolin I must give you a very hearty "fuck you" on that one as Tacos are my favorite food! Well, I do like a good T-bone with lobster, but actually prefer tacos, enchiladas and other sundry Mexican or Tex-Mex food. Any food south of Mexico SUCKS. Trust me. It sucks. Some of us were goddamned lucky to be raised in the great American Southwest where REAL food came to meet REAL COWS! 9 hrs · Like · 4 .. John Bolin By the way, you really would LOVE a journal I wrote some years ago about "de-populating" planet earth. It was quite sensible. Every human is given a physical, psychological, intelligence, and emotional test at age 5, 10 and 15. Those in the top 10% of all scores are allowed THREE children. Those in the 50% percentile are allowed two children. Those in the bottom quartile are allowed ONE, then sterilized. Those at the bottom, are allowed NONE and are sterilized by age 15. I think you may appreciate that, and I STILL contend that is a great idea. See, I'm not always that smarmy and mushy. If someone is incapable of managing to feed themselves, they goddamned sure don't need to re-produce and create others of the same variety! Hey, we're both still little Nazis at heart, but WITH a heart and compassion. At least I am. 9 hrs · Edited · Like .. Dallas Bingham And some of us where lucky enough to have learned a great work ethic since we were 12. And some are lazy worthless fucks. But, no matter where we are raised we still have an opportunity in this country. But I am done for the evening Mr. Bolin. Have a good night. Maybe this Christmas we can come down to Miami and visit but the Rockies are calling you. Come on. 9 hrs · Like · 2 .. John Bolin Good job, sir. I'm NOT dying...well, we ALL are, but I no longer have such a lovely "deadline" on the matter. Let me tell you, young man, that is an incredible psychological thing...going from "you're dead in under 6 months" to, "Hey! You don't have cancer after all"!!! Just kidding, you know?! Yes, I'd like to see you, Kiddo. And your wife sounds very nice...I don't know WHAT got into her to get her to marry you, though. I guess she was just being an optimist! (Long time no see. We'll do verbal battle another day. Your mother hates me, you know. But...well, look at my profile picture!) 9 hrs · Like .. John Bolin And the Rockies are definitely calling! Gawd, I cannot believe when I was a little "tanked up" and ready to come there for one of the long weekends, credit card in hand ready to buy whatever I needed, my fucking internet chose to go DOWN that night and save me from myself. Friggin' internet! Have a great night, "little one". (No one here on my FB pages have a clue who the fuck you are...hell, I don't know who the fuck you are, why should they be better informed than me!) Say "hey" to the Missus. 9 hrs · Like · 1 .. John Bolin Liberating the CAT time. The cat is coming out of the bag. One Mr. Dallas Bingham is my ONLY offspring. He shall become 30 years old on 13 September. Fucker tried to make it on 9-11 but as usual was running late. The apple fell a long distance from the tree...NOT. I was him at age 30. I've changed, he hasn't, but WILL. Maybe. We don't necessarily agree on politics but when together, which is not often, we have a wonderful time. Son of a bitch has such nice teeth. He got those from his momma. I can't even BUY teeth that look so nice. Life is just NOT FAIR!!! 9 hrs · Like · 2 .. Mari Lynn ouch, I just gpot sooo depressed. sucks! 9 hrs · Like · 1 .. Dallas Bingham Ernesto Che' Gueverra was a murderer and revolutionary understood by few. Do not agree with his message but I do agree with his methods. 9 hrs · Like · 1 .. John Bolin I thought you were in bed, young man. SOME of us have to work tomorrow...thankfully it is probably YOU so you can support my lazy ass! Love it. Actually, I changed my pic recently in response to some sort of political diatribe someone was on, probably not me...maybe, and said those that suffered at the hands of that TOO MELLOW person should be damned happy that I am NOT in charge. I'd actually be ruthless. And by ruthless, I mean fuckin' RUTHLESS. There would be many heads coming off from the top and many more heads coming off at the bottom. I'm just a bad person when you get right down to it. 9 hrs · Edited · Like .. Dallas Bingham Apple indeed does not fall far then. Until yesterday, I thought that is how you spell my name.... RUTHLESS 9 hrs · Like · 1 .. John Bolin By the way, I was looking for a new home recently (today) and on Craigslist hit upon a decent little place in Ft. Lauderdale, then a lovely place in Vera Cruz, Mexico, and finally found paradise in Paraiso (paradise) Caribeno Cuba. Yes, I'm not averse to moving to Cuba, though it would require a few paperwork gymnastics. I'm good at paperwork if nothing else. Now, it looks like my place here is still secure, though things were rather shady for a couple of days. All I want is my little pool, which I've been in since 7:00 pm or so and it is nearly 1:00 a.m. I like being water logged and feeding my many mosquito friends. They so love and appreciate me, and invariably fly away drunk as hell. Half of them don't make it home and are met by their little mosquito wives at their homes the next day barking and growling at them for being in John's Bar so long. Life is good. 9 hrs · Like .. John Bolin Shhhh...Dallas, THAT's your REAL middle name. "James" was thrown in there just to throw people off track. I think I might know you after all. I just have to travel back in time in my mind when I voted for Reagan TWICE, VERY enthusiastically. 8 hrs · Like .. John Bolin Don't really know you, kid, but I fuckin' love you!!! You're everything I hoped I'd be at 30 years old...sort of...except...well, the rich and successful and handsome and excellent dancer part. Keep practicing. 8 hrs · Like .. Bobby Marcum Why on earth would you vote for a professional actor??? 8 hrs · Like · 1 .. John Bolin Because he was an excellent soap and detergent salesman in the 50's, Bobby. What? You mean you didn't vote for him? Do you mean to say you were not swayed by the "Great Communicator" front man for James Baker, Dick Cheney, Admiral Secord and company? After all, his own memoirs show he worked from about 9:30 in the morning to nearly noon, before taking his 2-hour lunch, then his daily NAP from 2:30 or so until 4:00, so he could clock out by 4:30. THAT was one smart President! He knew how not to work! 8 hrs · Like .. Bobby Marcum I was trying to figure out how "couple skate" worked when he did his Iran hostage response, and I don't remember anything aside from all of the grown-ups going over to the tv to listen while their offspring were free to skate as fast as possible, possibly breaking their necks in the process-that is professional negligence illustrated! 8 hrs · Like .. John Bolin For some reason he felt compelled to state some 206 times, or thereabouts, that he "did not recall" during the Iran-Contra Hearings, which I watched EVERY HOUR OF on television when it occurred. Let's see, he "negotiated with 'terrorists' " to trade arms for hostages; he also negotiated with MORE "terrorists" to ensure our hostages in Iran from the Embassy were NOT released until his inauguration day; he continued a war in Nicaragua, which Congress specifically forbade; his CIA imported HUGE amounts of cocaine from Colombia to provide them with yet more monies for his little "off-the-shelf" enterprises run by a TRAITOROUS Marine Corps. Lieutenant Colonel named Oliver North; Miami became the cocaine capital of the U.S. thanks to that importation of drugs in the early 80's by the CIA and led to the creation of the "crack epidemic" along with incredible turf battles and massive massacres in the Miami area for the drug trade...let's see, what did he NOT do? Oh, yes, he DID at least TRIPLE the entire U.S. government national DEBT - yes, TRIPLED it, yet during Obama's tenure, funding two UNFUNDED wars started by Bush II, it only rose 55%, not TRIPLED. He oversaw unemployment skyrocketing to 10.2%, the absolute HIGHEST in my lifetime. Yes, Lord Ronnie was such a stellar example of just exactly what a GOP President can offer this country!!! 8 hrs · Like .. Summer Wallace-Minger Jesus, John, you voted for Reagan? Fucking Reagan? Were you high? You were high, weren't you? 1 hr · Like · 1 .. Tony Smith I just shared your whole damn original post up there John, because it kicks ass. Don't worry about "cleaning up" your language. There's no such fucking thing as a bad word, particularly when the content delivered is the fucking truth. 42 mins · Like .. Bobby Marcum No words are inherently bad, because ultimately they're a collection of gibberish everyone has agreed upon and assigned meaning to. There are different consequences for uttering some gibberish noises due to that perception. "Here is a cupcake I made for you, because I think you are a good person. You should enjoy it," might mean "I'm going to cut off your arms and duct tape them to a fire hydrant be cause I think it would look like R2D2 from Star Wars. I like R2D2." In fact, that has happened to me more than once. John Bolin,  Miami, FL ·

Posted in response to someone suggesting my step-son is somewhat of a lazy bum that is just trying to suck momma's titties at the age of 26. Well, I broke it down and saw things just aren't very attractive for a young man his age in Miami. MOVE, you say? THAT costs fuckin' money as well. When I was younger in the 80's and saw those goddamned "poor people" on television all I thought was they should just fucking MOVE and find a city with more work and better wages. It didn't dawn on me that MOVING costs a shitload of money; finding a new home in an alien area with no friends or family is NOT an easy thing. For a SINGLE young man it is do-able, in a way. For a formerly well-employed father of 3, with a wife that worked part-time to help supplement the income, but lost her job as well as he losing his, it is NOT that goddamned simple, ESPECIALLY with a motherfucking GOP Congress that has voted down nearly 30 jobs bills, 5 veterans assistance bills, nixed the break on student loans, and killed the unemployment benefits to the long-term unemployed, who continue seeking jobs, despite there being ONE job for every THREE job seekers. Gotta love the GOP and the motherfuckin', goddamned US of A that seeks to create and continue MASSIVE tax breaks for the top 1% as well as the 25% of top corporations that pay ZERO in taxes and most of which receive BILLIONS in taxpayer dollars to help them along. Cocksuckers. All of you GOP pieces of shit. Let's go GUILLOTINES! God, I hope I live long enough to see some BALLS grow in this nation. Hey, I'll be more than happy to stand the front lines. Just let me exercise my absurd 2nd Amendment RIGHTS to enforce a little FAIRNESS in our evil system bought and paid for by those calling corporations people. 

Gotta clean up my comments sometimes. RE: Miss Donna, my step-son actually works his ass off, but thanks to this ABSURD economy wherein we hard working people believe it is perfectly swell for some people to make 500 TIMES what other TRULY hard working people make, it is hard for young people to stand a chance and pay the incredibly high cost of living in Miami. After all, if you wish to rent a ROOM in someone's house you can expect to pay between $650 to $5,000 PER MONTH, depending on where it is. For a ROOM, NOT a house or an apartment. Let us do the math. At $10.00 per hour, fully 40% MORE than "minimum wage", a person MAY bring home $325.00 per week, as long as there are no rain days or holidays or sick days, things people are rarely paid for anymore, a person can pay $600.00 per month for an extremely CHEAP HOVEL - I mean, a ROOM in someone else's hovel - then pay $150 per month for a bus pass, since most assuredly a CAR at $200 or so per month - cheap-assed USED piece of junk car is not affordable, especially with $200 dollars per month in insurance for a younger person.
Food? Oh, that lazy bastard wants to eat as well? Okay, we'll provide some cheap chuck wagon trucks that'll give him something for $5 to $6.00 per day...$30 per week. Okay, lunch and rent equals $150.00 per week, out of that $325. OH?!!! You want electricity to go with that room? Do ya' want cable television as well, you greedy bastard? Add another $50 per week. Where are we? Hmmm, about $200.00 per week. What the fuck now, you actually want breakfast or dinner as well? Friggin' GREEDY working people, when will they stop their greed?!!! Shee-it, that's another $100 per week, if you buy cheap shit that will fill you up while starving your body of actual nutrients, which are entirely too expensive for you goddamned working people to buy. Okay, so where are we now with that MASSIVE paycheck that is 40% MORE than minimum wage? Oh, $300.00 per week. What? Now you want a fucking telephone as well? Dayum, these people have no limits on their desires! Fucking dregs of society, these working people! Fuck it, you still have $25.00 per week to pay for your healthcare, clothes, awesome nights out at the restaurant and clubs, and your 401K retirement savings. Goddamned working people just need to straighten up and start living right and saving MORE.
What?! NOW you say you have an actual KID? Are you fucking NUTS? How the hell are you gonna pay for THAT outrageous expense? We need to sterilize all people making under $20 per hour to help us REAL hard workers from paying for those lazy bums by subsidizing their easy lifestyle of foodstamps and welfare. Sons-of-bitches. Taking money out of MY pocket when I try so very hard to save...so I can donate the multi BILLIONS my nation's tax code just GIVES to the largest corporations and the top 1% of wealth holders. That is my only job. My existence and reason for being is to help subsidize the 1% and the world's most profitable and largest corporations in history.

•  Jimmi -   I hear you.  On disability and can't move without sacrificing something,even working part time. 1% of the population controls 90% of the income. Ripe for a 2nd American Revolution

   

  
•  Enaj -  Amazing how many people just don't get simple math. :(

   
•  

  Noreen  -  Last time I moved from California to Tennessee it cost about $6,000 - and that was not using a moving van company - I couldn't afford those guys - so I had to give away half of my shit. Worse than getting a damn divorce.

   
• 

  Enaj  -  And you have to wonder--don't those people realize that crime is not only everywhere but is totally mobile too. *smh . . . people . . . sigh.

   
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  Mary  -  I got dumped by a Fb friend when I was bitching about my neighborhood.  She says,  just move.  Yeah.  A family of 4 kids in school - I don't have thousands to put on "just" moving. I told her to get out in the world more and she would stop saying stupid shit like that.

   
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  Dallas  -  Ummmmm....... Just sayin, you can get a good job if you are willing to take on the work load and education. Maybe Miami is not the place to live if all those evil republican bastards that have to foot the bill on their workforce's health care insurance cannot afford to pay you better wages....... Maybe you reevaluate your democratic position on those GOD DAMN 1%ers and realize that in order to provide a service and pay their taxes and your wages, and your healthcare maybe 10 bucks an hour is all they can afford too! Just saying, maybe those greedy fucking business owners are not the problem. Maybe overpopulation and government rule is the culprit. But what do I know? I am just some snot nosed little Fuck without a college education and a six figure income that I went and earned myself.......And I love my guns!
•  
• 

  John -  I made plenty of money in my day, Dallas, and I was not overly "regulated", though my best earning years were dealing drugs. You, however, have had the incredible luxury of a FAMILY, a HOME, and OPPORTUNITY. Many people do NOT have that, but that is unimaginable for some who have had such privileges. Regarding income, just try and consider the actual NUMBERS that are indisputable. 60% of ALL the wealth created in the US the last 30 years has gone to 1% of the population. Why? Oh, they work so much "harder". Right. 95% of ALL the gains during the anemic "economic recovery" of the last 6 years has gone to the 1%. 95%. I wonder just how far along you'd be with NO family connections and no helpful uncles and no wonderful mother and great dad? By the way, I managed to open 3 companies and SOMEHOW didn't starve despite one of my most successful companies paying 50% above minimum wage in a job description that was a minimum wage job - yes, my little "John's Lawns...PLUS" company in Arkansas. Hell, I paid my help $7.00 per our their FIRST day as well as bought them breakfast AND lunch, another $15 or so for the day, and IF they worked well gave them a dollar an hour raise their second day. NEVER did I go hungry.
  
  If you cannot run a business and pay your employees a LIVING wage you have NO BUSINESS being IN BUSINESS in this country. PERIOD.
  
  I am NOT some "commie pig bastard" seeking re-distribution of wealth, although we have witnessed the largest transfer - redistribution - in world history the last 30 years in this nation, FROM the working poor and middle classes TO the top 1%. When the CEO's of major corporations went from making 40 times their average salaried worker in the 80's to over 380 TIMES that much today, something is slightly askew. When the tax code has taken corporations from paying 40% of the U.S. Government's total revenues in 1948 to less than 10% today, do ya' know WHO is picking up that tax bill? Our supposedly outrageous high corporate taxes are a MYTH. IN 2012 25% of the top 500 corporations not only paid ZERO in taxes on their profits, but actually received government "checks" - WELFARE - to the tune of many billions of dollars. As long as you are happy subsidizing them, power to you. Keep bitching about the working poor who work every bit as hard as you. Surely they are the problem, NOT the massive redistribution of wealth, thanks to a tax code which is MAN-MADE, and corporate-purchased and paid-for, which allows Bill Gates or Warren Buffet or the Koch Brothers to pay LESS in taxes as a percentage of income than you do. Keep picking up their tab and kissing their greedy asses. You probably think you will be one of them someday, but in the U.S. you have the LEAST likely chance of entering their pay grade than ANY Industrialized nation on earth. Good luck.

But...But...It was on Facebook

Wrong.
"The Thomas Jefferson Foundation said it has 'not found this particular statement in his writings' and Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience is the real source of the quotation," Kaczynski writes.
Henry David Thoreau of course, is an American icon who is strongly believed to have been gay, and was at the forefront of the transcendentalist movement, which abhors organized religion. Thoreau was also something of an anarchist.

The Virus

I've read a few articles about white privilege, but so far this is the best one.

 White privilege: An insidious virus that’s eating America from within
by Andrew O'Hehir

"... the most insidious power of white privilege, the albatross effect that makes it so oppressive to white people themselves, is the way it renders itself invisible and clouds the collective mind. It’s like a virus that adapts in order to ensure its own survival and perpetuation, in this case by convincing its host it isn’t there. So we see polls suggesting that large percentages of white Americans believe that racism is not a significant factor in Ferguson or law enforcement in general, that cops are just doing their jobs, and that whatever bad things may have happened once upon a time in our beloved country, they’ve been locked away in the dusty cabinet of history and don’t matter anymore. We passed the Voting Rights Act and exiled the Ku Klux Klan to the margins of society (or at least to websites with really bad graphics). Ergo, white privilege obviously doesn’t exist anymore."

"We have twice elected a biracial president and LeBron James and Jay Z are zillionaires, so no more talk of racism, please. In the more paranoid formulation prevalent in the Fox News demographic (but not limited to it), this becomes the idea that the federal government has spent the last 50 years giving away money, housing, education and other “free stuff” to black people who don’t work or pay taxes, while vigorously grinding down the white man. So either the vision of healing and reconciliation conjured up so eloquently by Martin Luther King, Jr. more than 50 years ago has now been fulfilled (and black people need to stop complaining), or America is being not so slowly turned into a gay-Muslim-socialist totalitarian state where every day is Kwanzaa. Both scenarios come up against the nettlesome fact that African-Americans stubbornly persist in being poor, living in disadvantaged circumstances, getting shot by the police for no particular reason and going to prison in large numbers."


" [How do we] deal with these events that seem like nightmarish echoes of too many previous events? One way, the path of survival pursued by the virus of white privilege, is to detach each of these cases from history. Each of these inexplicably dead black men becomes an isolated phenomenon, with no reference to any discernible pattern...
This urgent agenda of historical decoupling offers one reason why the specific details of each case become so fraught with meaning, and why the elaborate character assassination of every victim is so important to TV talking heads and Internet trolls. If Michael Brown was a thieving thug who made Darren Wilson fear for his life, if Trayvon Martin was a drug-dealing ne’er-do-well who was casing out potential burglaries (and probably high on “Purple Drank”), if Eric Garner was a bruising gangster who resisted arrest and stopped breathing because of asthma and cardiac arrest rather than an illegal chokehold, then their deaths were regrettable (or maybe non-regrettable) consequences of the system working as it should. Race was not a factor, the police and/or random armed citizens acted reasonably, the protesters are mobs of looters and law-breakers, and the liberal pantywaists crying about it on TV are the real racists.
"That pathway remains highly seductive for white America, because it avoids any notion of collective or social responsibility and accesses the Calvinist myth of individualism that lies at the core of white American identity. A man makes his own fate or is elected by Providence – it comes to the same thing in the end – and if those young men and a distressing number of others met death in the street under unsettling circumstances, that can only have been their just deserts. Considering the possibility that they died because of a system of justice and law enforcement that skews heavily toward arresting, imprisoning and otherwise suppressing black and brown people, and that that system is itself embedded within much larger cultural and historical patterns, raises a lot of painful questions."

" Whites of the working and middle classes correctly perceive that their economic fortunes have deteriorated over the past half-century, even if the average white household is still 20 times wealthier than the average black household (an especially deleterious consequence of white privilege). An entire right-wing ideological empire remains devoted to convincing white people that benefit-sucking African-Americans and job-stealing Latino immigrants are somehow to blame for their downward trajectory."