PROMETHEAN ANTAGONIST

What would you call an FBI surveillance of Timothy McVeigh (if such surveillance had occurred before his bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma)?

-- "Spying on American citizens"

…and, if they didn't get a warrant to conduct such surveillance?

-- Preventing mass murder.

I don't care if the FBI or NSA evesdrops on the phone calls and e-mails of some guy named Mohammad who is from the Middle East and keeps contacting an Al Queda friend in Pakistan -- "spying on American Citizens" - yeah, right.

This illegal "immigrant" issue is downright absurd. In every country in the world that I can think of, when people sneak in and use the countries tax-funded resources, if they're caught, they get sent back to their own countries (after officially being recognized as criminals). Only in America do they arrogantly whine about their "rights" to the same citizenship benefits that others have legally applied for. I have to once again paste all of Neal Boortz's view on the issue:

"Again ... they're not immigrants. Immigration is a legally defined procedure. They're trespassers. They're invaders. They're criminals. They are not 'undocumented workers.' They're illegal aliens, and they're going to show their muscle again on Monday. They plan to flood major U.S. cities on Monday with waves of illegal aliens demanding --- yes, demanding amnesty. That's right. They break our laws, and then they demand that they be excused for their lawlessness. Jorge Rodriguez, a California union official (don't you just love unions!) who assisted in the organization of earlier rallies, says that their goal is to close down Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Tucson, Phoenix and Fresno. Rodriguez says that they want 'full amnesty, full legalization for anybody who is here illegally."

"Speaking of unions, the wonderful teacher's unions are getting in on the act. They're saying that children should get excused absences from the schools to participate in these efforts to close down major American cities."

"These illegals are telling us that they don't have to play by the same rules our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers played by:"

" 'Following the rules? That's for suckers. We make our own rules. We cross your borders when we want to, not when you give us permission to. We take jobs whether or not we're legally entitled to do so or not, and then we send much of the earnings back to Mexico to prop up our corrupt leaders. Then ... we demand that you legitimize everything we have done by granting us amnesty.' "

" 'Manyana? Oh yeah, tomorrow. Well, soon we will be demanding the vote. No, we don't want to be citizens, not if we have to follow your laws to do so. We will want to vote. We'll be paying taxes, so we'll want a say in how that tax money is spent ... and so we'll want to be able to vote for the people spending that money.' "

" 'Next? Well, now that you asked, have you ever heard of Republica del Norte? That's right. We're going to want our own country. A separate country located between Mexico and the United States. We'll take California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and part of Colorado. We'll throw in a few of the Northern Mexican states for good measure. We'll have the vote. We'll have the power. And this will be our demand .. our own Hispanic nation. And since we'll be a new nation, we'll then demand that the taxpayers of the United States spend billions of dollars a year in financial aid for our fledgling country.' "

"Read the tea leaves, folks. Study Canada. Study the French-speaking separatists. It's coming here."

Ann Coulter is certainly agressive and sarcastic. She's one commentator who may even accurately be called "far right," but when she's critiqing the left, she's always spot on.

The Democratic Party (now America's Euro-Socialist party) is, and has been, so full of "it" regarding...virtually everything. Of course, this doesn't exempt the Republicans, who on many issues have become as ridiculous and pro mega-state as their opposition but, regarding the Democrats take on high gas prices, Coulter calls them on their typical hypocricies.

For the second time this month I was told of New York City's terrible crime rate; its "murders, rapes, and muggings," and for the second time it was from someone who had never even been to N.Y. (Although this time the messenger was a more likeable chap and probably didn’t have a political axe to grind – as the previous critic did).

The anti-American left has got to hate it, but NY's crime has dropped significantly over the last decade and the city is now substantially safer than many of the world's other big cites – Paris, France being a noteworthy example. I lived in New York when crime was much higher (for two and a half years) and never experienced or even seen any crime. That, of course, doesn't mean it wasn't occurring, but considering the places (not always the nicest) and late night hours I often walked about, I just didn’t see or experience the horrid conditions that are spoken of regularly by naïve Euro-audiences and the like when their only connection to events in America is Hollywood and a hoard of international left-wing media commentators.

I was back visiting New York for a couple of days last year. It looked better than ever. I walked around at night in a variety of neighborhoods. It's one of the coolest places on the planet. It's full of energy and excitement and the diversity of the people there is a joy to experience. I would dare even say that many people are downright friendly, noteworthy considering their urban context.

A lot of people would like to think that crime and particularly excess crime are somehow American things. Anything to keeps the Jacobin template going. One very intelligent and likeable character I know once noted that America has no unemployment insurance and no safety net. Where are theses people getting such phony and skewed views?

The next time anyone notes the terrible crime or conditions of America, ask them if they’ve even been there. Chances are better than not that they haven't.

If America, or New York specifically, are anything like the media and entertainment have portrayed them, they're probably more like a sit-com then a crime drama.

Reality often looks very different than a bunch of arrogant movie directors or journalists would have us believe. Many European cities are in a serious state of decay and rampant with crime (and, yes I've been to some of them). New York, on the other hand, is a rather nice place…of course you wouldn't know that unless you've been there.

To bad -- Europe is going down the tubes. In spite of what you've heard from a thousand "news" sources regarding America's hegemonic power and simultaneous decline, it appears that the pointing fingers of Euro-socialism are missing a lot of the flaws in their own back yard.

I actually miss the days when most Europeans prided themselves regarding their friendship with America -- they were certainly more appreciative then for the money and corpses donated to salvage them from their own misguided "experiments" in political idealism. I do have to qualify such emotive statements with my usual acknowledgment that, indeed, not all Europeans are socialist boot-lickers of the omnipotent state, but a good many are, and some of their guiding philosophies and leaders are about as free thinking as a Communist Internationale'.

"...From cradle to grave was their promise; and little by little, the graves started outnumbering the cradles..." -- an excellent and brief overview of Europe's "Slow Death."

Back to this stupid gas price issue. (If you don't like my views on this, you should get rid of your car and ride a bicycle -- like me).

Neal Boortz has once again nailed the realities of the issue so well -- by pointing out some things you won't find anywhere in the yellow stream media -- that I'm going to paste his entire rant on the issue below. The usual no-BS grasp of an issue, and laced with appropriate sarcasm. Some things to think about -- or at least be aware of.

"The oil company profits are not obscene. As of September of last year the total take for local, state and federal governments for each gallon of gas sold was 46 cents. In New York that figure is 63 cents. At the same time gasoline retailers were making about 12 cents on the sale of a gallon of gas. Right now the government take is approaching an average of 50 cents a gallon. Retailers are making about 14 cents. so ... who is making the obscene profit? The local gasoline retailer invests in the community, buys a plot of ground, builds a gas station, hires the employees, pays the local taxes, deals with the local regulatory agencies, and makes a big screaming 14 cents on each gallon sold. Meanwhile, the government steps in without having invested one dime in that facility and takes about 50 cents per gallon. Some obscene profits, right?

As for profit margins ... the amount of money earned for each dollar of sales ... oil companies are nowhere near the top of the list. In 2005 pharmaceutical companies made about 17.6 cents for every dollar of revenue. That, for those of you educated in government schools, that works out to a 17.6% profit margin for the drug makers. How about your local bank? They made about 19.1 cents for every dollar of revenue. Almost a 20% profit! Not too shabby. And what about your household goods and cosmetics? Those companies earned 11 cents on the dollar. A lot of competition there. Now, the oil companies. What did they make? In 2005 the average was 8.5 cents per dollar of revenue. That works out to an 8.5% profit margin.

Maybe President Bush could have said something yesterday about MTBE. Congress recently refused to protect the MTBE makers from liability from frivolous lawsuits. MTBE is a component in gasoline ... and the makers are bailing. MTBE is to be replaced by ethanol .. .but the ethanol producers just can't keep up! This affects supply, and reduced supply in the face of increased demand means what? Higher gas prices? Could we get the ethanol we need from overseas? Why yes! We could! But the Bush administration has a 54 cent-per-gallon import duty on imported ethanol! There's your price gouging! Drop that import duty and I wonder what would happen to gas prices.

It's enough of a problem when Americans suffer from a tragic level of ignorance on issues of basic economics due to generations of state-run education. It's even more tragic when politicians pander to that ignorance for political gain."

Comrade Betty is clearly a super smart and very witty student at a High School in the Glorious People's State of Kalifornia. Photographs taken at her school of the nonsense her teachers have been proselytizing are classics in the genre'.

As a former public school teacher myself (briefly, in the People's Republic of Boulder, Colorado), I can testify to the authenticity of this style of "teaching." The average public school in the U.S. is a repository of every limp-minded pseudo-intellectual fad one can imagine. Teaching and learning is the last thing one will find in these pathetic stockades of left-wing dogma and spoiled brat bourgeois pseudo-rebellion.

This student's photo's and comments are priceless. She totally understands the mindset of a clique' of phony bureau thugs in a way that took me years to fully grasp.

Cool kid! ... And just another stupid public school.

...or even worse, what if America acted like Jimmy Carter?

Cheers to Andy Garcia!

I’m not a scientist. Most people aren’t scientists. And of those who are scientist there is a wide array of thought about things both scientific and otherwise. “Global warming” may not be a scam, but the one-sided hype that media and partisan politicos have been using in its honor surly is.

At some point a couple of decades or so ago, the usual crowd from socialist revolution inc. realized they finally had an issue they could push (down our throats) that no one would dare refute. They were right. Today environmental issues like “global warming” are topics that one dare not question, not because there are a lack of valid questions but that merely doing so brands one uncaring, ignorant, and -- the usual left-wing denouncement -- "selfish."

As it turns out, there are plenty of questions to be answered before choosing to freeze our economies and return to an era of stone-age subsistence.

Throughout Earth’s history, it has gone through cooling periods, then warming periods, then cooling periods, and to degrees far more excessive than what we’ve experienced in the last hundred years or so (a period which experienced both rises and falls in average global temperature). The global warming lobby, alarmist followers, and nutcases like Al Gore will simply tell us the issue is beyond argument. The media and a brigade of public school clones will tell us there is a “consensus” regarding “climate change” (a nice euphemism to escape the former “cooling” and “warming” threats) and all of them will tell us the solution is the usual demand from left-land; “sacrifice.” Give up prosperity and economic advancement, give up freedom and individuality to the great planners who know so much better how things should be “organized.” Of course the problem isn’t China or India as they emerge into full industrial capacity. No, it’s – guess – the evil citizens of the U.S. Take their money, take their success, and take their sovereignty and the world will then dance merrily in a new global Eden of Bureau authority and, who knows, the average mean global temperature in the next hundred years may deviate a half a degree. Also, no more Hurricanes, Tornadoes, or wayward asteroids -- god, don't great things happen when you shut down the free market and those pesky individualists.

There are plenty of sites and articles that have gone through the mythology, but you won’t see much of a two-sided argument being presented in the yellow stream media. Of course there’s always the evil Fox News to poison our minds with some rare alternative views:

…The notion that our atmosphere acts like a greenhouse – that is, so –called atmospheric ‘greenhouse gases,’ like water vapor and CO2, ‘trap’ incoming solar radiation to warm the atmosphere – is wrong. Not only doesn’t the atmosphere work that way, greenhouses don’t either…”

Okay, pollution is bad, alternate sources of energy should be developed, understanding human impact on global climate conditions is a sound policy…but, the scare tactics and deliberate distortion of what is occurring and what should or, even can, be done has become ridiculous.

Be afraid, be very afraid. But in the mean time, just don’t worry about things like an Islamic Theocracy or Communist dictatorship developing nuclear weapons. That would be over-reacting.

Now, ain't that exciting. As anyone knows who follows American politics, it's quite usual for a two term president to experience low numbers somewhere in the second term, if not a major scandal or crisis. Bush's "low poll numbers" are actually on par with several past presidents and -- interestingly -- are actually much higher than those of several European leaders (which the media is not interesting in hyping).

More non-news from the clowns of media land.

...Global cooling, global warming, quagmires, and low poll ratings. What's next, "Massive Increase in Hangnails"?

I've been compelled by recent events to post some brief comments but I should remind readers that my posting schedule is now rather sporadic and may go several days or weeks with nothing.

I love blogging but my lady friend ultimately affords a more fulfilling use of my time.

Posts will continue to be made here with no particular schedule, pace, or quantity.

Thanks for loving, hating, or not caring what I think or write...

Cliff

'Wanna see a really stupid cartoon? (click on "Heng - Singapore")

I was infuriated when I saw this cartoon in Japan's Daily Yomiuri, English edition.

Hu Jintao is the virtual dictator (along with a massive and stale bureaucracy) of an authoritarian police state that -- though in transition -- regularly crushes dissent, tortures and kills opposition, and censors the very lives of it's citizens. In the cartoon noted, he's depicted admiring his "world image" while the evil symbol of America see's (for the billionth time) an image of what some renegade soldiers did to some Islamo-terrorist.

The media's (and random socialists everywhere) love of this image is just plain stupid. Although a serious PR embarrassment, the pranks and degradations at Abu Ghraib are a distant and insignificant failing in the context of a brutal war with fascist thugs.

It's bad enough that so many in the media can't get enough of this image but now one cartoonist has the balls to juxtapose it with a neat and placid image of China -- a ruthless dictatorship that killed millions of its own citizens and continues to oppress them under its one-party rule.

Pathetic nonsense.

Has anyone noted the irony that when the most powerful communist in the world (China's Hu Jintao) began his visit to the U.S., he first met with the richest man in the world (Bill Gates).

In his own country, Hu may be leading a revival for that old-time religion (Maoist Socialism), enforcing renewed oppression and party control, but when it comes to genuine communist sentiment, money isn't such a bad thing after all.

I realize that big companies ultimately want lots of money...and you and I, for example, only want a little money, but lets put some economic issues in the proper context.

I know that big Oil companies aren't warm and fuzzy institutions and that coming to their defense may sound a bit ridiculous to some, but the bogus claims being made as to why oil prices are rising are annoying my sense of political "justice."

It seems that the usual crowd is using the occasion of oil's rise in cost to rant the standard socialist excuses for unwelcome economic realities -- the evil capitalist system is once again allowing people to operate outside the control of intellectuals and bureaucrats thus allowing the mean guys in the stovepipe hats to oppress everyone.

Neal Boortz had a great post yesterday regarding this issue, and some facts to dispute the contrived wisdom of the "mainstream" media filter.

No one need love an oil company or adore the concept of corporate wealth, but they should at least have their facts strait.

By the way, for what its worth, I haven't owned a car for over 23 years now -- but I do oil the gears on my bike occasionally.

Check out, On The Fence Films.

Some good information and video clips of documentary retort to the monopoly the left has thus far held on "documentaries."

No doubt such information will fail to get the distribution that rich Hollywood leftists can get for people like Michael Moore, but it's good to know someone is initiating a well deserved counter-attack.

A big hat tip to A Guy In Pajamas for this link to Mark Steyn's article on Iran and its nutcase "President," Ahmadinejad.

I'm also going to further my hat tip to the Pajama guy by using the same quote from the Steyn article which is, indeed, a most potent metaphor:

"You know what's great fun to do if you're on, say, a flight from Chicago to New York and you're getting a little bored? Why not play being President Ahmadinejad? Stand up and yell in a loud voice, "I've got a bomb!" Next thing you know the air marshal will be telling people, "It's OK, folks. Nothing to worry about. He hasn't got a bomb." And then the second marshal would say, "And even if he did have a bomb it's highly unlikely he'd ever use it." And then you threaten to kill the two Jews in row 12 and the stewardess says, "Relax, everyone. That's just a harmless rhetorical flourish." And then a group of passengers in rows 4 to 7 point out, "Yes, but it's entirely reasonable of him to have a bomb given the threatening behavior of the marshals and the cabin crew."

We appeased Saddam Hussein for a decade. We continue to appease Kim Jong Il, and other assorted dictators and ruthless authoritarian creeps and the media and its echoes in entertainment and education continue to suggest that the real war monger in the world is the soft-spoken guy from Texas. The absurdity of our continued docile stance with these guys is bound to result in some eventual horrors beyond the imagination.

We definitely could use a Churchill or a Reagan on this one but all we've got are some committee clowns at the U.N. and the equally placid idealist bureaucrats at America's state department.

What's it going to take to wake the clowns of appeasement from their perpetual nap in left-wing fantasy land?

What about the violent authoritarian's feelings?

You can read about this issue anywhere so I'm not going to elaborate too much. I find it absolutely amazing that so many people are unable to grasp the simple difference between legal immigrants and illegal immigrants.

What country in the world allows random people to sneak into their counties and demand the rights of citizens and those who have legally applied for citizenship?

I wonder if Mexico and Mexican citizens would look well upon Americans "demanding their rights" in Mexico while waving an American flag (and an upside-down Mexican one)?

Several opinion polls make clear the publics sentiment on this issue, yet politicians – of both parties – keep thinking of ways to bow to demands of illegals, some of who tell us that their purpose is to "take back stolen territory." If they want to use distant history as an argument in their case they could be told to go back to Spain and let the Aztecs and Mayans take back their territory (I'm sure someone has already suggested such nonsense).

The solution to the illegal immigrant issue is simple. Do what every other sane country does when someone enters a country illegally. Send them back and make it more difficult for future transgressors to get in.

These clowns are insulting to the many citizens who have earned their right to citizenship and who demonstrate their allegiance to their new homes.

If you love Mexico, wave a Mexican flag…and live in Mexico!

…These are the words repeatedly uttered from the cockpit of United flight 93 before it crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. These are the words uttered often when savage Muslim fanatics kill innocents. These are people who think the creator of the universe sides with their personal authoritarian plans and wants them to kill people so they can establish and maintain a medieval system of cruel oppression.

Allah may be "the greatest," but clearly many of his (the Muslim god is clearly not a woman!) followers are the worst.

…"Religion of peace" – yeah, right…

In my last post I had noted a recent clerical project of the Communist party of China – a sort of banal attempt at reinvigorating fervor and allegiance for the socialist cause in that country. In degrees and styles, such nonsense occurs regularly in America as well. Most colleges today matriculate new students with religious-like sermons on "multiculturalism" and other politically correct chastisements. Certain students are assumed guilty for their backgrounds or the degree of success their parents have attained. Others are glamorized for their victim-hood. Of course the student's actual circumstance is not an issue since the very act of being at a university is hardly the status of one who is "oppressed."

Group categorizations are the standard of good and bad in left-land. So it is that race, skin shade, gender, and even who one directs amorous thoughts toward are measures of who's naughty or nice and who should be rewarded or punished by fiat.

In keeping with the typical mindset of the bureau-socialist, a host of gimmicks, exercises, and "activities" are regularly used in colleges and public education. The comical nature of such wastes of time holds a family likeness to the criticism and "self-criticism" sessions held by communist parties in history when they had managed to seize power over entire countries. So far, the average leftist college professor has little real power over a free society (the main reason they harbor such resentment toward America, business, and the choices made by private citizens in a free market). If they were to attain power there is no doubt in my mind that they would exercise it as leftists have always done once successful in eliminating opposition and freedom of choice. Some relatively benign professors of "Woman's Studies," "Education," "Critical Studies," or even, "Literature" would become tyrants over society at large as they have sought to be among their captive audiences in America's stockades of political correctness (its universities and public schools).

I've pasted below a typical "education exercise" that one may find in some school or university classrooms – it's in the classic Marxist style. I had read of this particular exercise before. It's one that's often used in the new "White Studies" classes that have sprung up on some college campuses recently (often under the guidance and promotion of – ironically – privileged, and often white, academics). The particular example below is taken from the "diversity" website of Melissa Bailey at Michigan State University but can be found at a host of websites (do a search for, "White Privilege Exercise").

The whole "exercise" is a classic example of the bureau-left's phony world view and their guile-laden attempts to con young minds into believing that the real world is a place where "classes" and "races" battle their lives out using such contrived fantasies as "privilege." To this mindset, any fortune or misfortune in circumstance can only be due to one's membership among a host of "privileged" or "oppressed" people. In this worldview, no one simply makes right or wrong choices that advance or diminish their circumstance – no one is an individual freely choosing sound conduct or passive victim hood. No one rises above their birth condition or falls from fortune. They are all cogs in the Marxist fantasy image of free society, a society that must be "transformed" or overcome by "revolution" (e.g. professors, "artists," and authoritarian leftist / statists must be put in a position to "plan" society – for its own good).

When closely evaluating the statements in the "exercise" one finds them to be quite arbitrary. They actually gauge nothing but are stated as if they are some sort of scientific method of finding true guilt or innocence – whether one is a victim worthy of sympathy and praise or a privileged person who has attained too high a degree of comfort or satisfaction from life ("unfairly").

I've added my own responses to this stupid exercise's statements in the hope of addressing their blatant absurdity. Humor and sarcasm are intended since such nonsense is most worthy of ridicule.

The leftist clowns who develop such "learning projects" take this stuff very seriously. No doubt some will automatically assume "racism" as my motive for daring challenge this typically ridiculous con game in the halls of "Education." Sorry to disappoint, but my motivation is something more benign and astute – anti-Leftism. Those who continually seek to promote, indoctrinate, and impose the leftist vision are the true culture of privilege.

The "exercise" and my responses are below

["] Privilege Exercise ["]


Purpose: To provide participants with an opportunity to understand the intricacies of privilege.
Time: 1 ½ hours
Materials: none needed
Facilitator Notes:
This is a powerful exercise and should be thoroughly processed. [typical neo-Comm-speak]

1. Participants should be led to the exercise site silently, hand in
hand, in a line. [Note the usual almost religious wording used in such nonsensical projects]

2. At the site, participants, can release their hands, but should be
Instructed to stand shoulder to shoulder in a straight line without
speaking. ["speaking" would no doubt upset the holy nature of this exercise in spiritual understanding]

3. Participants should be instructed to listen carefully to each sentence,
and take the step required if the sentence applies to them. They
should be told there is a prize at the front of the site that everyone is
competing for. [remember, success in life is, "a prize."]


Sentences:

If your ["] ancestors ["] were forced to come to the USA not by choice [200 or 300 years ago], take one step back.

What if your "ancestors" were slaves of the Aztecs, Arabs, or Sudanese?


If your primary ethnic identity is American, take one step forward.

Guilty of good fortune – to the rice fields for reeducation.


If you were ever called names because of your race, class, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation, take one
step back.

…Why? How about if you were called names like, "fascist" for believing in free and open society, Christianity, or individualism?


If there were people of color who worked in your household as servants, gardeners, etc., take one step forward.

If these paid employees were white, don't step forward?


If you were ever ashamed or embarrassed of your clothes, house, car, etc. take one step back.

I hated that used car my dad drove with the broken muffler -- but then again, a lot of people had used cars and bad mufflers in our neighborhood. I was obviously very "oppressed." Give me some money and free stuff.


If your parents were professionals: doctors, lawyers, etc. take one step forward.

God forbid your parents were successful. Do you get to step back a half step if they worked themselves through college or, as doctors, saved human lives?


If you were raised in an area where there was prostitution, drug activity, etc., take one stop back.

How about alcoholism or spouse-swapping?


If you ever tried to change your appearance, mannerisms, or behavior to avoid being judged or ridiculed, take one step back.

…No, no one's ever done that.


If you studied the culture of your ancestors in elementary school, take one step forward.

There's that bogus obsession with folks from long ago who you never met. Also, why should an American grade school teach Lebanese culture when they barely teach math, reading, and writing?


If you went to school speaking a language other than English, take one step back.

What if it was German, Swedish, or French?

Give me twenty pushups lowly class enemy!


If there were more than 50 books in your house when you grew up, take one step forward.

If they were porn – OOH-HOO! (If your parents didn't like to read, you can't be part of the world socialist club!).


If you ever had to skip a meal or were hungry because there was not enough money to buy food when you were growing up, take one step back.

...then step forward again if there were churches, private organizations, or local, state, and federal government agencies to give you handouts.


If you were taken to art galleries or plays by your parents, take one step forward.

If your family liked sports and camping, you're oppressed and should get more free stuff from the omnipotent state and its taxpayers.


If one of your parents was unemployed or laid off, not by choice, take one step back.

If it was for longer than a year, chastise your parents for being incompetent and not applying to the millions of jobs available each year.


If you attended private school or summer camp, take one step forward.

If you went to a public school, sorry you can't read this.


If your family ever had to move because they could not afford the rent, take one step back.

If they were living beyond their means and had to move back to something they could afford, make a circle, touch your nose, and sing an old Beatle's song.


If you were told that you were beautiful, smart and capable by your parents, take one step forward.

Step back if they were lying.


If you were ever discouraged from academics or jobs because of race, class, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, take one step back.

Step back further if you couldn't get a class or job because you were light skinned or male.


If you were encouraged to attend college by your parents, take one step forward.

If you were a "victim" of everything your parents said or didn't say to you, you're an idiot – get a life.


If you were raised in a single parent household, take one step back.

If that parent was rich and a member of a chosen minority group, just stand there and look confused. There will be no parents when the revolution comes. It "takes a village" and a totalitarian communal state to raise the lumpen proletariat.


If your family owned the house where you grew up, take one step forward.

If they rented a townhouse in Paris or New York laugh at the meaningless nature of this statement.


If you saw members of your race, ethnic group, gender or sexual orientation portrayed on television in degrading roles, take one step back.

If they were depicted as evil, ignorant, greedy, or fascist ask the "facilitator" why its okay to depict that phony image.


If you were ever offered a good job because of your association with a friend or family member, take one step forward.

If you were from another planet where this never happens, become a sociologist and take a college lit course then, move two spaces and collect trust fund check from rich socialist parents.


If you were ever denied employment because of your race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, take one step back.

And ask yourself why you didn’t' complain to the million and one government offices or lawyers who would have sued the employer and showered you with cash (disregard question if your ethnicity or gender is white or male)


If you were paid less, treated unfairly because of race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, take one step back.

See last response.


If you were ever accused of cheating or lying because of your race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation, take one step back.

If you were ever accused of cheating or lying because you cheated or lied, look puzzled and continue to protest the conditions of life on planet Earth.

If you ever inherited money or property, take one step forward.

If the government took huge sums of your money through coercion to finance social programs and college classes in Marxist Studies, just shut up and keep on paying.


If you had to rely primarily on public transportation, take one step back.

Especially if it was an airplane in first class.


If you were ever stopped or questioned by the police because of your race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, take one step back.

If you happend to be speeding, stealing, or murdering at the time, call a Woman's Studies professor, Gay rights advocate, or Al Sharpton for one free pass.


If you were ever afraid of violence because of your race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, take one step back.

If you were actually a victim of violence merely because someone wanted to harm you or take your property, no big deal. (Remember, this project is only designed to direct concern for skin color, gender, sexual orientation, and how much money people are paid for working...or not working).


If you were generally able to avoid places that were dangerous, take one step forward.

…off the edge of a bridge into a flaming pit of molten lead.


If you were ever uncomfortable about a joke related to your race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation but felt unsafe to confront the situation, take one step back.

Also, try to forget about the jokes you told or laughed about involving other people or groups. (If you're black, and sing rap lyrics advocating the death of homosexuals -- one free pass. If you're Muslim and behead infidels -- two free passes and immediately go to the front of the classroom).


If you were ever the victim of violence related to your race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, take one step back.

If it was because you were light skinned or non Middle-Eastern, too bad.


If your parents did not grow up in the United States, take one step back.

If they grew up in a French Chateau – cool. If your parents were Asian and worked hard and made sacrifices to put you through school, cringe in self-loathing. If you don't want to live in the U.S. at all – leave. (There are lots of countries that are already fully socialist or half way there. You should be with them).


If your parents told you that you could be anything you wanted to be, take one step forward.

If they told you that you'd have to settle for what you're actually capable of, cry because they were realistic.


Processing: [there's a great word familiar to anyone who has encountered a leftist bureau-minded control freak]

Ask participants to remain in their positions and to look at their position at the site and the positions of the other participants.

Ask participants to consider who among them would probably win the prize.
Suggested questions for processing are:

1) What happened? [I had a divine revelation. I will now save the rainforest, give more money to the state, lick the shoes of middle-class college instructors, and give away my bourgeoisie CD collection.]

2) How did this exercise make you feel? [Classic Socialist Ed School Bureau-lesson question -- but, for the record, the "exercise" made me sick.]

3) What were your thoughts as you did this exercise? [Like…wow! Like, this is sooo stupid]

4) What have you learned from this experience? [Answer; Not what you could have learned in a real class.]

5) What can you do with this information in the future? [Whine more about injustice and ask for more free stuff].


****************************************


Remember, decades ago the time taken to "perform" this pathetic soap-box ritual would have been used to actually learn something academic

When a teacher or professor can be paid -- often with taxpayer money –- to use such "lessons" to promote their personal radical political ideology, the question as to who in society is "privileged' becomes clearer.

Remember; If you're ugly and diseased, have lost a loved one, if someone close to you has committed suicide, or you have retarded children…and you're light skinned, male, or financially well –off, you're "privileged." If you're relatively happy, have good relationships and a decent job and home but are a "minority," you're oppressed and can get free stuff and sympathy from middle class white kinds majoring in "critical studies."

Poor, ugly, unemployed, divorced, paraplegic white men with cancer "have all the power."

…it's been a privilege.

(see my "glossary of Ed-euphemisms" for further insights into the bizarre worldview of Ed-world).

It appears that another great socialist "experiment" is taking another hit. The old farts and bureau-minded fools of China's communist party are trying every last-ditch maneuver they can to hold on to their pathetic delusion of "socialism's superiority."

I'm no fan of the New York Times, but a few weeks back (March 9th) an article appeared on line that made me both laugh and cheer. My laughter was directed at the neo-Comm scum that rules over China. My cheers were for the over one billion people of China who will soon be free to create, strive, and excel as nature affords when one is unimpeded by philosopher kings and bureau-control freaks.

The article I'm noting is; China Attacks Its Woes With an Old Party Ritual

I couldn't help but paste a few noteworthy sentences and phrases from the piece and comment on them. The whole "ritual" described in this article is so akin to some of the nonsense that occurs regularly on college campuses nowadays that I think the coincidence actually reveals the like character of all leftist "philosophies" in general. Yeah Team! Rah Rah worker's paradise! Multicultural egalitarian fun fun! Smiley-face obedience to the sacred church of "progressive" Marxist B.S. is the way to go!

Below; some pasted portions and my response:

"…For 14 months and counting, the party's 70 million rank-and-file members have been ordered to read speeches by Mao and Deng Xiaoping, as well as the numbing treatise of 17,000-plus words that is the party constitution. Mandatory meetings include sessions where cadres must offer self-criticisms and also criticize everyone else."

Seminar Socialism – a leftist bureaucrat's wet dream. An old Mao-style "purge" would probably be more tolerable than some of this dusty nonsense.

" …'It is an effort to cope with the declining reputation of the party and the distrust of the people toward party officials,'…"

You've got to be kidding! After millions of deaths and keeping an entire population prisoner for decades, now (!?) the Communist party's "reputation" is "declining"?

"…But many are distinctly uninspired. Jokes have been circulating mocking the study campaign and many party members privately grumble that it is a pointless waste of time. Web sites offer fake essays that cadres can download to meet homework requirements…."

Awesome! The great infection of bourgeoisie sentiment (and the ability to see through the blatant nonsense of "politically correct" obedience).

"…On the surface, the campaign, known as 'bao xian,' or 'preserving the progressiveness,'…"

A classic Marxist oxymoron. Just like Fidel Castro or Kim Jong Il "continuing the revolution" by freezing their countries into 1950's style Stalinist theme parks.

"…As an example, he described a 75-year-old party member who, on completing the study sessions, volunteered to scrub public toilets…"

That's one really inspired (and stupid) "study session" clone. Another party triumph for the excrement "of the people.".

"…Campaigns of this sort are a legacy of the Chinese Communist Party… "

…and the mindset of all leftist thought – bureau-compulsion and bureau-obedience to drab, sleep- inducing nonsense.

"…Some participants say the campaign has allowed ambitious members to show off in front of their superiors with angry, bombastic displays…"

Always brings out the a_ _ kissers – nothin like power through boot-licking.

"…In February the party's Central Discipline Inspection Commission announced that it disciplined 115,000 party members for corruption in 2005. …"

Yeah, that's really going to turn things around. It's the system itself, idiots! If a centralized one party government has power over citizen's lives, the government bureaucrats will have power and authority – result; corruption – duh…

"…about whether the party was capable of managing an increasingly chaotic country. …"

Meaning, CONTROLING an increasingly independent minded population (that can get by just fine without daddy Marx, Mao, Hu Jintao, or "the party").

"…and strengthen the party organizations to better serve the people…"

…Pleeease….

"…In a posting last year, a prominent Chinese blogger, Keso, said Web sites and bloggers were using the ideological campaign as a money-making opportunity by offering essays customized to a person's party rank. The head of a street committee, for example, can find a fake self-criticism essay tailored to that job and then tinker with it to make it seem original…"

This is just too funny! Thank god people are seeing through this utter nonsense and getting on with their self-interested bourgeoisie capitalist lives!

...Communism, Fascism, Socialism, Leftism in general – peas in a pod of just plain stupidism.