Holy S**t! It's fascist picture story time!!
2005-09-02
vruz: a refresher. theo-military-industrial recruitment, Lexington KY Baptist Church.
In this segment from The American Ruling Class (2005), Barbara Erenreich speaks passionately on behalf of the unjustified, intentional misery of low-wage earners in America.
—via alexanderpf:
There is something fatally attractive about joining the ruling class, starting of course with the pay, but also with the prestige and the like. But fatally ought to go with attractive, in many cases, because it means for a large part you’re getting ready to forget about half of what you learned at Yale or anywhere else, that there are obligations in this democratic republic which I still, perhaps naively, believe need to be factored in. I do not actually believe that society is best served by everybody running avidly after their own self interest. I particularly think: that it is betrayal when the best and the brightest decide that their being the best and the brightest means that they jump on the gravy train and tell everybody else kiss mine as I leave the room. If there is no last morality here to be offered, it is an individual question. The last thing people always say as they go out is not ‘I wish I had had more money.’ They’re usually wishing something else, about what they did with their lives. (former State Dept. spokesman)
The film is a peculiar, unique “musical dramatic documentary” that explores the moneyed seat of power that has been influencing American policy towards its interests for decades. Who are the ruling class? What’s an alternative to the status quo that can be more in line with our imagined, socially-conscious ideals? John Kirby, the filmmaker, presents an enlightening, amusing look at this deeply problematic facet of modern society. His audience is specific. He is speaking to people like me; young mid-twenties, concerned, and modestly privileged enough to make choices, but for whom it is too easy to make the easy ones. The film features some outstanding voices of our time, including scenes with Howard Zinn and Kurt Vonnegut.
Watch the film on Youtube or buy the DVD! The film is also available to view instantly on Netflix. via tingalingmofo,paganbuddha,perkhoel
Reblogged from Progressology
China Looking to Buy a Chunk of Facebook: This Week in Online Tyranny
ReadWriteWeb
China trying to buy some Facebook. News has surfaced that a sovereign wealth fund representing the Chinese government wants to buy a substantial amount of Facebook stock. According to anonymous sources who spoke to Business Insider, China wants to own enough of Facebook “to matter.”
Is China’s interest in Facebook a simply a government-sponsored group of venture capitalists looking to get a piece of the upcoming Facebook IPO or is there something more complicated at work behind the scenes?
Obama Administration Tries to Tempt Congressional Democrats into Political Suicide
by Jon Walker, FDL
Apparently the White House is back handing out extremely bad political advice to Congressional Democrats to get their support for a big partisan austerity package that includes Medicare and Social Security benefits cuts. From New York Times:
White House officials acknowledge the unrest among Democrats. But they argue that Democrats will be in stronger shape politically heading into November 2012 if they help enact a credible deficit reduction deal, allowing them to mount the argument that they protected Medicare from a much more drastic overhaul by Republicans.
With official unemployment around 9 percent and the economy stagnant what people don’t care about is deficits they care about jobs. Recent polling showed that seven times as many Americans rank jobs/economy as the top issue over the deficit.
Poll after poll after poll has also repeatedly shown that Americans overwhelmingly don’t want Social Security or Medicare benefits cut to reduce the deficit.
