Friday, August 28, 2009
Media Games:
If someone joins a trendy alliance of mllions opposed to the values and actions of free society, they're called brave free-thinkers. If one questions the motives of totalitarian sympathizers and statists, they're simply called “right wing nutcase extremists.”
Thursday, August 27, 2009
"Americans Love Freedom"...
...well, that's not entirely true anymore. Several opinion polls would indicate that a good 30% or so of America's public support values that could be called “progressive.” Like a “progressive” once told me, “we need more laws!”.
I'd say about 70% of American's love freedom. About 30% want to control the lives of the that other 70%, and with their new pseudo-president “community organizer” and move-on “dot” congress they might just have their way.
That 30% is a powerful group. With the organs of media, entertainment, “education,” and government offices at the disposal of their bidding they can do a lot of damage to the love of freedom and the concept of freedom itself. The fact that more and more individuals and institutions are drinking the kool-aid from the government teat does not work into the favor of the cause of freedom either (it's certainly no coincidence that Obama and company are doing all they can to get more people hooked on the states own special brew).
'Not a pretty picture.
p.s. My reference to our pseudo-president does not mean to imply that he is not indeed the lawfully chosen / actual president of the United States. It's just that real presidents usually have some experience running something -- this guy doesn't.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
More on the "evil right-wing extremist" CEO of Whole Foods (from Michelle Malkin).
"Do You Know Who You Are Boycotting?
posted at 8/21/2009 7:05 AM CDT
* Mackey lectures at Universities about the horrors of factory farming
* He says “Right now, Americans have to pretend factory farms don’t exist. They turn their eyes away, because there’s no alternative, there’s no choice. Once there is a choice, we will allow ourselves to be outraged.”
* He makes $1 a year and donates his stock portfolio to charity.
* He set up a $100,00 fund to help his employees with personal problems.
* He’s a vegetarian and his company will not buy from producers that treat their animals unethically.
* He flies commercial, rents the smallest cars, and stays in the cheapest hotel rooms - not because he’s cheap, but because he has no need for largesse
* He and his wife participate in yoga
* He gives over $1 million a year to animal welfare groups, education, relief work, and spiritual movements.
* Employees have full say in who they work with - a new employee must receive a 2/3 vote in order to make it past probation.
* Employees also vote on all company-wide initiatives
* There’s a salary book in every store - “no secrets” management believes everyone should know how much everyone else is making
* Executive salaries are capped at 14 times the lowest workers salary - If they want more money, everyone else has to get more money first
* Non-executive employees hold 94% of company stock options
* Pay is linked to team performance - profit sharing
* At least 5% of annual profits go to local charities
* Full-timers get 100% of their health care costs paid for - under plans the employees have selected
* “They just have a lot more respect for you as a person here” says an employee
And because he had a different idea about how the United States can fix it health care situation, none of this matters? He’s a caring person and many of you want to treat him like a monster. Why? Not because he opposes reform, but because he’s bringing more ideas to the table.
You people are despicable. If the country had more CEO’s like Mackey, this country would be a greater place"
And, last but not least -- don't forget -- he dared to disagree with his royal holiness the grand duke of slipped-in-behind-the-curtain-socialism; Barack "Barry" Hussein Obama (and the move on "dot" Democrat party).
Intellectuals, Eric Hoffer, and Common Sense Appraisals of "the worker's" Relationship to Management...
I've noticed that a lot of searches that end up on my site arrive at this post from several years back.
In rereading it I felt I should repost the quote by Eric Hoffer regarding workers' relationship to management. Since, like so many circumstances in life, the left can only see hardship or difficulty as a product of "capitalism" (free people making free choices as to what to produce, sell, and buy), I think Hoffer really notes something most people seldom if ever consider:
”To the eternal workingman management is substantially the same whether it is made up of profit seekers, idealists, technicians, or bureaucrats. The allegiance of the manager is to the task and the results. However noble his motives, he cannot help [but view] the workers as a means to an end. He will always try to get the utmost out of them; and it matters not whether he does it for the sake of profit, for a holy cause, or for the sheer principle of efficiency….
…Any doctrine that preaches the oneness of management and labor – whether it stresses their unity in a party, class, race, nation, or even religion – can be used to turn the worker into a compliant instrument in the hands of management. Both Communism and Fascism postulate the oneness of management and labor, and both are devices for the extraction of maximum performance from an underpaid labor force…
…Seen from this point of view, the nationalization of the means of production is more a threat than a promise. For we shall be bossed and managed by someone, no matter who owns the means of production – and we can have no defenses against those who can tell us in all truth that we, the workers, own everything in sight and they, our taskmasters, are driving us for our own good. The battle between Socialism and Capitalism is to a large extent a battle between bosses, and it is legitimate to size up the dedicated Socialist as a potential boss.
One needs not call to mind the example of Communist Russia to realize that the idealist has the making of a most formidable taskmaster.” (The Ordeal of Change, Pgs. 64-65)
Hoffer's most noted book is "The True Believer," which is an excellent insightful appraisal of mass-movements. The lessor known, "Ordeal of Change" is a brilliant appraisal of intellectuals...and how they "got there" (their motives and products).
If you're a libertarian or classical liberal (conservative by genuine definition -- not the left's definition), Hoffer is a must-read author.
If you're a leftist...just keep worshiping the state and your own contrived compassions for people you've never met.
Random Observations
It would serve the world a great deal of good if people were to know (or remember) that “utopia” means nowhere.
When someone says that you need to be “more open-minded,” what they typically mean is that you should agree with them.
I have yet to meet anyone uttering the word “greed” who lacked noted degrees of avarice themselves.
Following a radical populist is the ultimate act of conformity.
Societies (like individuals) who have everything tend to get bored. The statist mantra of “change,” regardless of how irrelevant it may be to actual circumstance, is always seductive to those who are simply bored. Be careful of the things you wish for.
It's an old axiom in psychology that neurotics build castles in the sky and psychotics live in them. To this I would add that leftists demand that other people live in them as well.
The ultimate gripe held by most socialists is that they don't want to see private people have private lives.
Leftists basically believe that the Emperor has clothes...and that we should pay for them.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
"Progressively" More Pathetic
Sometimes they're just assholes...really. I know that's "name-calling" and not an effective way of responding to opinions but the response by some leftist clowns to John Mackey's recent opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal is downright pathetic.
Macky is the CEO of Whole Foods and expressed his views on the health-care issue (remember, no one is allowed to express their views on this issue unless they worship at the alter of his highness, lord Obama).
Macky's opinion piece was a sober, and realistic appraisal of current debate over health-care legislation. Anyone can agree, disagree, or take varying views on specific ideas expressed. But...in lefty land, Mackey's article is a new excuse to rally the forces to boycott Whole Foods stores. Some people have expressed their disgust and didn't know he had such "extreme right-wing views." In fact, Mackey's views can be described (like my own) as libertarian -- a belief in limited constitutional government and free economic exchange (hardly a radical idea). This view is now commonly chastised as "Nazi," "Fascist," or "extreme right-wing."
Some people claim to not like the idea of a CEO even expressing their political beliefs -- unless of course we're talking about Ben and Jerry, Ted Turner, or countless movie dirctors and producers.
Here's an example of what Mackey had to say (the horror!):
"...At Whole Foods we allow our team members to vote on what benefits they most want the company to fund. Our Canadian and British employees express their benefit preferences very clearly—they want supplemental health-care dollars that they can control and spend themselves without permission from their governments. Why would they want such additional health-care benefit dollars if they already have an "intrinsic right to health care"? The answer is clear—no such right truly exists in either Canada or the U.K.—or in any other country..."
By all means read the entire piece...then read what some on the left have to say about it, then decide who is sane.
It's grand to see the left implode upon themselves. Their nonsense is starting to wear on many common folks.
What exactly is so hard about the idea of "Leave us the F...ck alone." But, remember, they've got other peoples lives to run.
...idiots.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Great Observation
“...people in America and around the world aren't dying from malnutrition because places like [Burger King] have made food fresh, cheap, and simple to prepare. Seriously, where ever you find a fast food restaurant, you'll find fat kids, but not starving ones. But in this easy age of value-free moralism, experts are more inclined to demonize Ronald McDonald than Robert Mugabe.”
-- Greg Guttfield
Friday, August 14, 2009
Go Flag Yourself
Definitely send a message to the White House's new "flagging" system and let them know that you may be a bit "fishy" in you lack of support for his royal highness, Barack Hussein Obama. Remember, these folks are the one's who were always so excited about "dissent" (Marxist groups breaking bank windows).
Send your guilty thoughts to:
flag@whitehouse.gov
Here's what I sent them:
You should definitely flag this....
I've been having delusions of personal autonomy and will require a complete flagging by the state to bring me in line with the proper thought required of an obedient citizen. Unlike those wholesome folks from International A.N.S.W.E.R and other assorted Marxist groups I've been kind of agreeing with those old folks from Pa. and elsewhere who want his Excellency Obama and court to shove it. How about leaving us all the hell alone.
Do excuse my disobedience. I haven't joined the angry mob yet but it's only a matter of time no doubt.
Cheers,
A counter-revolutionary enemy of the people
p.s. I'm sooo looking forward to seeing America's new move-on-dot-socialist party drown in the next election.
(they surely can't knock on my door here in Japan...can they?)
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
"The Rich Aren't Paying Their Fair Share"
Neal Boortz lays out the stats regarding the oft repeated -- and believed -- myth that "the rich" (those bastards!) aren't being soaked enough to pay for Democrats' and other socialists' planning projects.
'Always been nonsense...'still nonsense.
What better way to trash an economy and drive your civilization into the ground than old fashioned class envy.
