Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
No Offense, But You're a Moron.
What most people don't seem
to "get" about Occupy Wall Street is that they are shifting the
conversation. Before OWS everybody was talking about the national debt.
Now they are talking about income inequality, and campaign finance
reform, as well as the fate of our social programs. They successfully
have shifted the focus. They aren't camping out on Wall St. because
they think the big banks and financiers are going to give in and start
valuing people over profit. They're drawing attention to issues that are the essential source of all of this country's problems, and expressing rightful outrage at the injustice of the system. In a way, they are educating voters.
Unfortunately, there seems to be this untoward brand of bourgeois liberalism among my twenty-something peers that leads them to opine that OWS is "complaining to the wrong people". If they really think that we still have any control over our so-called democracy, they are clueless. We live in a corporate state. No real change is possible until we reclaim control of our country and wrest it from the hands of the corporate machine. I hope that until then, people wont stop protesting, marching, demonstrating, and participating in acts of civil disobedience.
I remember when I lived in St. Louis, we had a handful of housemates living with us. They were all recent college graduates who considered themselves liberal-leaning. I assumed that these young, well-educated people would have a nuanced grasp of the issues. I was deeply disillusioned when on issue after issue I discovered that they had a "tip of the iceberg" superficial view on just about everything I brought up with them. Not only weren't they "well-versed" on things such as institutionalized racism, prison privatization, global warming, police brutality, and the right-wing propaganda machine, but they were unwilling to consider anything that might be disturbing to them. One night, I was listening to the radio in my room and painting. The radio program, which I believe was a Christian radio show about the bible, went to a commercial break and a disturbing message played over the airwaves. It was a man saying that The Kyoto Treaty was a threat to our national security and sovereignty. I believe he described it as "insidious" and urged listeners to call their elected representatives and keep the US from signing it. I couldn't believe my ears. I was so upset and depressed by that. Unlike most of the listeners of that radio program, I actually knew what the Kyoto Treaty was, and I was horrified to hear it referred to in those terms.
That was 2005. It is now 2011, and the United States is still the only country not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which is an agreement to limit greenhouse gasses and "prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system."
"The Protocol was initially adopted on 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, and entered into force on 16 February 2005. As of September 2011, 191 states have signed and ratified the protocol.[4] The only remaining signatory not to have ratified the protocol is the United States. Other states yet to ratify Kyoto include Afghanistan, Andorra and South Sudan, after Somalia ratified the protocol on 26 July 2010." {emphasis mine}
Doesn't that just say it all? Who stands to gain from climate change-denial/ non-ratification of the Kyoto Treaty? Big business, that's who. The corporations who have their greedy fingers in every policy we choose to adopt or not to adopt, as in this case.
Being 22 in 2005, I desperately wanted to curb climate change, because I'd really like the planet to be FUCKING HABITABLE. The fact that we had not adopted the Kyoto Protocol, which was a watered-down, barely passable effort to address the problem, depressed and frightened me. I was even more depressed and horrified that outright lies were being put on the airwaves in a "public alert bulletin" paid for by special interests and aimed at Christians and people who don't know the facts, in order to trick them into being against it. I took a long walk and when I got home I was still despondent, because everything I saw led me to believe that this country was headed straight to hell in a handbasket. When I explained to my housemates why I had such a glum expression on my face, they said they didn't think it was so shocking or such a big deal. They didn't care about the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" being abolished during Reagan's administration, they didn't care about the war in Iraq, and they simply ate up everything the Wall Street Journal published and accepted it as fact. I realized that this was exactly the kind of attitude that was leading to the deterioration of our very civilization.
They were the college graduates described in Noam Chomsky's "Manufacturing Consent" to a T. I see the same attitude and superficial grasp of issues from my former schoolmates and assorted peers in response to the Occupy Wall St. movement. The left is so watered down and impotent now that it's an utter sham. Just like Obama's policies. For more on this issue, read Chris Hedges' "The Death of The Liberal Class."
Unfortunately, there seems to be this untoward brand of bourgeois liberalism among my twenty-something peers that leads them to opine that OWS is "complaining to the wrong people". If they really think that we still have any control over our so-called democracy, they are clueless. We live in a corporate state. No real change is possible until we reclaim control of our country and wrest it from the hands of the corporate machine. I hope that until then, people wont stop protesting, marching, demonstrating, and participating in acts of civil disobedience.
I remember when I lived in St. Louis, we had a handful of housemates living with us. They were all recent college graduates who considered themselves liberal-leaning. I assumed that these young, well-educated people would have a nuanced grasp of the issues. I was deeply disillusioned when on issue after issue I discovered that they had a "tip of the iceberg" superficial view on just about everything I brought up with them. Not only weren't they "well-versed" on things such as institutionalized racism, prison privatization, global warming, police brutality, and the right-wing propaganda machine, but they were unwilling to consider anything that might be disturbing to them. One night, I was listening to the radio in my room and painting. The radio program, which I believe was a Christian radio show about the bible, went to a commercial break and a disturbing message played over the airwaves. It was a man saying that The Kyoto Treaty was a threat to our national security and sovereignty. I believe he described it as "insidious" and urged listeners to call their elected representatives and keep the US from signing it. I couldn't believe my ears. I was so upset and depressed by that. Unlike most of the listeners of that radio program, I actually knew what the Kyoto Treaty was, and I was horrified to hear it referred to in those terms.
That was 2005. It is now 2011, and the United States is still the only country not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which is an agreement to limit greenhouse gasses and "prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system."
"The Protocol was initially adopted on 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, and entered into force on 16 February 2005. As of September 2011, 191 states have signed and ratified the protocol.[4] The only remaining signatory not to have ratified the protocol is the United States. Other states yet to ratify Kyoto include Afghanistan, Andorra and South Sudan, after Somalia ratified the protocol on 26 July 2010." {emphasis mine}
Doesn't that just say it all? Who stands to gain from climate change-denial/ non-ratification of the Kyoto Treaty? Big business, that's who. The corporations who have their greedy fingers in every policy we choose to adopt or not to adopt, as in this case.
Being 22 in 2005, I desperately wanted to curb climate change, because I'd really like the planet to be FUCKING HABITABLE. The fact that we had not adopted the Kyoto Protocol, which was a watered-down, barely passable effort to address the problem, depressed and frightened me. I was even more depressed and horrified that outright lies were being put on the airwaves in a "public alert bulletin" paid for by special interests and aimed at Christians and people who don't know the facts, in order to trick them into being against it. I took a long walk and when I got home I was still despondent, because everything I saw led me to believe that this country was headed straight to hell in a handbasket. When I explained to my housemates why I had such a glum expression on my face, they said they didn't think it was so shocking or such a big deal. They didn't care about the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" being abolished during Reagan's administration, they didn't care about the war in Iraq, and they simply ate up everything the Wall Street Journal published and accepted it as fact. I realized that this was exactly the kind of attitude that was leading to the deterioration of our very civilization.
They were the college graduates described in Noam Chomsky's "Manufacturing Consent" to a T. I see the same attitude and superficial grasp of issues from my former schoolmates and assorted peers in response to the Occupy Wall St. movement. The left is so watered down and impotent now that it's an utter sham. Just like Obama's policies. For more on this issue, read Chris Hedges' "The Death of The Liberal Class."
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Amazon Payments, please kiss my ass.
Dear Amazon Payments,
I signed up for this service to give my customers more options. I deeply regret that decision.
I have an art micro-business that brings in tiny amounts of money and only every once in a while. If my customer buys something for $9.00 I can't withdraw the money unless I purchase an Amazon Gift Card with it. When a customer buys something over $10.00 Amazon Payments holds my money for weeks, despite the fact that they already take a cut of the sale itself.
Maybe this service works for larger businesses, but for my small home business, it's an outrageous nightmare. The obvious greed and underhandedness of these policies has aggravated me to no end, and I would like to close my Amazon Payments account immediately. I have already removed the option from my shop, and I will be making my grievances known publicly.
Thank you for your time, motherfuckers.
I signed up for this service to give my customers more options. I deeply regret that decision.
I have an art micro-business that brings in tiny amounts of money and only every once in a while. If my customer buys something for $9.00 I can't withdraw the money unless I purchase an Amazon Gift Card with it. When a customer buys something over $10.00 Amazon Payments holds my money for weeks, despite the fact that they already take a cut of the sale itself.
Maybe this service works for larger businesses, but for my small home business, it's an outrageous nightmare. The obvious greed and underhandedness of these policies has aggravated me to no end, and I would like to close my Amazon Payments account immediately. I have already removed the option from my shop, and I will be making my grievances known publicly.
Thank you for your time, motherfuckers.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Amazon Payments Makes me Angry
So quite a lot of people use Amazon Payments when they check out in my shop, but even though it might hurt my sales, I've decided to stop using AP. They have this ridiculous policy where they hold all the money you make for 14 days, and they say it is because they want to guarantee that the customer is satisfied, but I know it's just so they can hold on to YOUR fucking money and make interest from it. That's not cool. Their fees and policies are bad for micro-businesses like mine. Apparently anyone who uses AP has to have what they call a "reserve" amount in the account. It's F*king ridiculous. Paypal works just fine and doesn't hold on to YOUR money for 14 freaking days or forever. I make virtually nothing in my shop, a giant corporation like Amazon.com doesn't deserve a cut of the money I EARN. Customer retention is important to me and my business. I'm not going to cheat my customers. I had a 14 dollar sale 2 weeks ago and that money has been sitting in my AP account this entire time, inaccessible to me. F* that. I'm closing my account as soon as I get my money.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
The Horror
I'd only been awake for about 3 minutes. I was ambulatory, but still at the stage where I might put pepper in my coffee instead of sugar, or put the milk away in the freezer instead of the fridge and not even realize it. I sat down in my computer chair, just starting to collect my brain cells into a grouping powerful enough to restore my status as a sentient life-form, and as soon as my ass hit the seat, the phone started ringing. Again.
I knew who was calling.
As I listened to the initial "brrr-beep" I fully considered answering it and explaining that I had only just woken up, but by the second ring I felt glued to the chair by a powerful, almost other-worldly force that whispered in my ear "Fuck that." It didn't assuage the guilt, however, of ignoring my Grandmother's seventeenth phone call, phone calls that started on Monday when I was still on my way home from Richmond, Virginia, where I attended the wedding of one of my few remaining close friends. I've been meaning to call her back. Really I have. And ignoring these calls hasn't been fully intentional.
I spent the first night home on Monday just resting and recovering from the action-packed weekend. Tuesday was spent catching up on chores and cleaning up the house from my mother's weekend rampage and cleaning up puddles of cat pee around the litter boxes where my furry friends expressed their outrage that I would leave the house for more than a day. Every time the phone rang I had my hands full or I was otherwise occupied. By Tuesday night I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep, but the phone kept on ringing, and I let it. I wound up having a bit of insomnia, but by the time I gave up on sleeping for a while, it was too late to call Granny. I DID however text my best friend Gaulke, and express my guilt that I had bad news for Granny.
My Grandparents are having a 62nd wedding anniversary party on Sunday, and they want me to help. Only thing is, I'd made plans with friends to (don't laugh) go to the Renaissance Festival on that day. I wasn't eager to tell her that instead of celebrating her long union with my frail, aging Grandfather, I would be eating a giant turkey leg and yelling "Huzzah" at a jousting tourney. Gaulke said I should be able to do what I want sometimes, and that I shouldn't feel bad about it. It's not like I leave my house more than semi-annually. Sure, I could have canceled my plans to see my friends, but just because I live here doesn't mean I'm obligated to attend every function. I'm allowed to have a life outside of elder-care. The rest of the grandchildren are off pursuing their lives and I'm the only one here who sticks around and helps them out, anyway. I should be able to go do young-person things sometimes!
Besides, I'm still cooking them dinner tomorrow night, as I do once every single week. I'm motivated to do the shopping TODAY, like, within the next 2 hours, so I can borrow the car, because I'm down to my last 2 cigarettes, and that will NOT do. Besides, if I get the shopping out of the way today, I only have to worry about the cooking and cleaning tomorrow.
Good fucking God, I hate my life.
Getting away for the weekend was {{~*indescribably wonderful*~}}. Now I feel like Cinderella after the ball. My coach has turned back into a pumpkin. I must return to my endless list of chores and my shitty little life, where, even though it seems like I never get anything done, I still don't have time for all the things I want to do.
It's my own special hell. Barely staying afloat, without much reward for my efforts. Today's goal? Do what I have to do REALLY RIDICULOUSLY FAST so I can spend the rest of the day doing what I want. Unfortunately, that still means I have to hurtle through at least 9 time-consuming tasks before I can do what I want. I'm starting to think that life would be better if I started taking amphetamines in the morning.
I knew who was calling.
As I listened to the initial "brrr-beep" I fully considered answering it and explaining that I had only just woken up, but by the second ring I felt glued to the chair by a powerful, almost other-worldly force that whispered in my ear "Fuck that." It didn't assuage the guilt, however, of ignoring my Grandmother's seventeenth phone call, phone calls that started on Monday when I was still on my way home from Richmond, Virginia, where I attended the wedding of one of my few remaining close friends. I've been meaning to call her back. Really I have. And ignoring these calls hasn't been fully intentional.
I spent the first night home on Monday just resting and recovering from the action-packed weekend. Tuesday was spent catching up on chores and cleaning up the house from my mother's weekend rampage and cleaning up puddles of cat pee around the litter boxes where my furry friends expressed their outrage that I would leave the house for more than a day. Every time the phone rang I had my hands full or I was otherwise occupied. By Tuesday night I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep, but the phone kept on ringing, and I let it. I wound up having a bit of insomnia, but by the time I gave up on sleeping for a while, it was too late to call Granny. I DID however text my best friend Gaulke, and express my guilt that I had bad news for Granny.
My Grandparents are having a 62nd wedding anniversary party on Sunday, and they want me to help. Only thing is, I'd made plans with friends to (don't laugh) go to the Renaissance Festival on that day. I wasn't eager to tell her that instead of celebrating her long union with my frail, aging Grandfather, I would be eating a giant turkey leg and yelling "Huzzah" at a jousting tourney. Gaulke said I should be able to do what I want sometimes, and that I shouldn't feel bad about it. It's not like I leave my house more than semi-annually. Sure, I could have canceled my plans to see my friends, but just because I live here doesn't mean I'm obligated to attend every function. I'm allowed to have a life outside of elder-care. The rest of the grandchildren are off pursuing their lives and I'm the only one here who sticks around and helps them out, anyway. I should be able to go do young-person things sometimes!
Besides, I'm still cooking them dinner tomorrow night, as I do once every single week. I'm motivated to do the shopping TODAY, like, within the next 2 hours, so I can borrow the car, because I'm down to my last 2 cigarettes, and that will NOT do. Besides, if I get the shopping out of the way today, I only have to worry about the cooking and cleaning tomorrow.
Good fucking God, I hate my life.
Getting away for the weekend was {{~*indescribably wonderful*~}}. Now I feel like Cinderella after the ball. My coach has turned back into a pumpkin. I must return to my endless list of chores and my shitty little life, where, even though it seems like I never get anything done, I still don't have time for all the things I want to do.
It's my own special hell. Barely staying afloat, without much reward for my efforts. Today's goal? Do what I have to do REALLY RIDICULOUSLY FAST so I can spend the rest of the day doing what I want. Unfortunately, that still means I have to hurtle through at least 9 time-consuming tasks before I can do what I want. I'm starting to think that life would be better if I started taking amphetamines in the morning.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
#OccupyWallStreet
Occupy! Occupy!
We're giving you a black-eye
No need to wonder why
You're eating all the pie
Take back the nation
through occupation
from Corporation
to cooperation!
Occupy! Occupy!
Right now it's do or die,
we're seeing through the lie
no need to wonder why
you're eating all the pie
When 98%
can't afford to pay the rent,
Greedy share-holdiers
profit from our dead soldiers
Occupy! Occupy!
We're only free to buy
We're drowning in our debts
You get out the orange nets!
We know the situation
we see deregulation
we see you dodge taxation
and destroy a generation
PREPARE FOR OCCUPATION!!!!
We're giving you a black-eye
No need to wonder why
You're eating all the pie
Take back the nation
through occupation
from Corporation
to cooperation!
Occupy! Occupy!
Right now it's do or die,
we're seeing through the lie
no need to wonder why
you're eating all the pie
When 98%
can't afford to pay the rent,
Greedy share-holdiers
profit from our dead soldiers
Occupy! Occupy!
We're only free to buy
We're drowning in our debts
You get out the orange nets!
We know the situation
we see deregulation
we see you dodge taxation
and destroy a generation
PREPARE FOR OCCUPATION!!!!
Friday, September 30, 2011
Fed up
Today has been full of aggravation. It isn't even noon yet. I'm tired, and I still have to do the shopping and cooking for my grandparents today.
First, my mother woke me up, probably with her blackberry, which she refuses to use unless it is on speakerphone, way before I had had 5 hours of sleep yet. She woke me from a nightmare I was having about a mother deer and her faun being cooked alive on a barbecue grill (I am anticipating the upcoming hunting season around here). Lovely image, isn't it?
Then, my Grandmother came over with the electrician to install 2 new light fixtures in the hallway because the old ones were busted. She pitched a huge fit that they didn't look perfectly identical because the swirl pattern in the glass varied from piece to piece, and then another mini-tantrum that the lights in their respective fixtures were pointing in different directions. Meticulous is a nice word for what she is. She put her hands on her hips and stomped her feet!
Then I read Chris Hedges' most recent article on Truthdig which gave me goosebumps. I copied a portion into my status update on FaceCrap and for the 68th straight day in a row, my friend's husband had a bunch of snarky comments about the claims needing citation and the argument being a logical fallacy, completely missing Hedges' point and making me see red. I know it is just a neurosis on his part, but it has been driving me crazy. I guess I am lucky to get any response at all considering my friend-base on that piece of shit site. I would gladly delete my account if I didn't use facebook to keep in touch with my friends, who, at this point, are all long-distance.
I've noticed that some days are just easier than others. Some days, even things that ought to be annoying and stressful, turn out to be a walk in the park. Other days, things that ought to be a breeze wind up being a massive annoyance that sticks in your craw. I have a feeling this day falls under the latter category, which does not make me excited for the rest of the day. In fact, I can't seem to calm the hell down.
Yesterday, I also got word that the former best friend who had intimated to a mutual friend that she wanted to patch things up with me after she ripped out my heart 2 years ago, has apparently changed her mind about it and will not be writing me the letter I was told I could expect. I'm not very surprised about that, but I am disgusted. Just another disappointment that proves she was never really my friend in the first place, and I must have been delusional for 3 years to think she was. Which, of course, outrages me. I'm pissed off at her, at life, and at myself.
I'm frustrated and angry about the way things in my life and relationships have turned out. I'm furiously bitter about the set of circumstances that have left my generation to fight a battle they simply can not win. Most of us will be, or already are, forced into lives of serfdom for no good reason except for corporate greed and the Corporatocracy that has irrevocably stolen power from the people. Can I go occupy Wall Street? No I can not, because I am too busy caring for my 86 year old grandparents and trying to keep the house from falling apart, keep from starving, and God knows there isn't enough time or money. I've been forced into a life not of my own choosing and I hate it! I hate the lack of opportunity, the fear, the uncertainty, the prospect that this is what the rest of my life looks like, just struggling from day to day to hold on to a roof over my head, no matter what I do! I'm voting a straight 3rd party ticket this year, not that it fucking matters, not that any of it has ever mattered in any election I've been old enough to vote in. 8 years of Bush and then after enthusiastically voting for Obama we find out he's a total JOKE. All hail our Plutocratic masters! They have us under their boot now, once and for all! So much for the "greatest civilization on earth"! Kiss that goodbye, along with the American Dream, and every right our fore-bearers fought and died to win! All of that is being liquidated and deposited in Swiss bank accounts AS I WRITE THIS bloody mess.
First, my mother woke me up, probably with her blackberry, which she refuses to use unless it is on speakerphone, way before I had had 5 hours of sleep yet. She woke me from a nightmare I was having about a mother deer and her faun being cooked alive on a barbecue grill (I am anticipating the upcoming hunting season around here). Lovely image, isn't it?
Then, my Grandmother came over with the electrician to install 2 new light fixtures in the hallway because the old ones were busted. She pitched a huge fit that they didn't look perfectly identical because the swirl pattern in the glass varied from piece to piece, and then another mini-tantrum that the lights in their respective fixtures were pointing in different directions. Meticulous is a nice word for what she is. She put her hands on her hips and stomped her feet!
Then I read Chris Hedges' most recent article on Truthdig which gave me goosebumps. I copied a portion into my status update on FaceCrap and for the 68th straight day in a row, my friend's husband had a bunch of snarky comments about the claims needing citation and the argument being a logical fallacy, completely missing Hedges' point and making me see red. I know it is just a neurosis on his part, but it has been driving me crazy. I guess I am lucky to get any response at all considering my friend-base on that piece of shit site. I would gladly delete my account if I didn't use facebook to keep in touch with my friends, who, at this point, are all long-distance.
I've noticed that some days are just easier than others. Some days, even things that ought to be annoying and stressful, turn out to be a walk in the park. Other days, things that ought to be a breeze wind up being a massive annoyance that sticks in your craw. I have a feeling this day falls under the latter category, which does not make me excited for the rest of the day. In fact, I can't seem to calm the hell down.
Yesterday, I also got word that the former best friend who had intimated to a mutual friend that she wanted to patch things up with me after she ripped out my heart 2 years ago, has apparently changed her mind about it and will not be writing me the letter I was told I could expect. I'm not very surprised about that, but I am disgusted. Just another disappointment that proves she was never really my friend in the first place, and I must have been delusional for 3 years to think she was. Which, of course, outrages me. I'm pissed off at her, at life, and at myself.
I'm frustrated and angry about the way things in my life and relationships have turned out. I'm furiously bitter about the set of circumstances that have left my generation to fight a battle they simply can not win. Most of us will be, or already are, forced into lives of serfdom for no good reason except for corporate greed and the Corporatocracy that has irrevocably stolen power from the people. Can I go occupy Wall Street? No I can not, because I am too busy caring for my 86 year old grandparents and trying to keep the house from falling apart, keep from starving, and God knows there isn't enough time or money. I've been forced into a life not of my own choosing and I hate it! I hate the lack of opportunity, the fear, the uncertainty, the prospect that this is what the rest of my life looks like, just struggling from day to day to hold on to a roof over my head, no matter what I do! I'm voting a straight 3rd party ticket this year, not that it fucking matters, not that any of it has ever mattered in any election I've been old enough to vote in. 8 years of Bush and then after enthusiastically voting for Obama we find out he's a total JOKE. All hail our Plutocratic masters! They have us under their boot now, once and for all! So much for the "greatest civilization on earth"! Kiss that goodbye, along with the American Dream, and every right our fore-bearers fought and died to win! All of that is being liquidated and deposited in Swiss bank accounts AS I WRITE THIS bloody mess.
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