Monday, October 24, 2011

2011 Late October Developments





Many unemployed people are joining the Occupy Wall Street movement from Verizon workers, etc. Some Republicans and Tea Party folks are jealous and fearful of this movement. That is why they demonize it as Communist and now anti-Semitic, which is foolishness. The plutocracy is the enemy not the 99 percent of the world’s population. The top 1 percent is a large reason why there are difficulties in getting jobs in America. Now, some of the Tea Party members are down with their corporate masters. The reality is that a progressive citizenry protesting for rights is legitimate. The super corporate elite have been using a class war against the rest of us. So, we should support the masses of people opposing the ruling class. Quantitative easing is when there an increase of the money supply to ease credit conditions. Supporters of this policy believe that this action can stimulate the economy with the use of central banks (injecting a pre-determined quantity of money in to commercial banks in return for the purchase of their financial assets. These assets can include government bonds). It’s done electronically. People who support QR believe that the money sent to commercial banks at or near zero interest rates will cause them to give credit to businesses (and manufacturers in low rates), so they can be encouraged to borrow, expand, and hire (to create growth and prosperity). When money supply and capital markets are rights and interest rates are very high, this can work in conjunction with large demand or purchasing power. We have no shortage of capital, interest rates (or the cost of borrowing) are low, and demand is weak. So, QE will have a hard time of succeeding. The cost of borrowing is high, so producing goods is weak (not because of funds since corporation sits on more than 2 trillion dollars of cash and they aren’t hiring). Corporations also seem to want to produce overseas instead of in home in America. Labor is very cheap in foreign nations. Corporations find it more profitable to invest in speculation. That is why the elite want more of the status quo instead of increasing industrial production. QE spending and social spending cuts haven’t increased the economy in America or overseas in Europe.



It doesn’t take a genius that fascists want to attack public education. One way they do it is to merge corporate power with state power. The youth in some places aren’t taught critical thinking skills, but random information to pass a test or confirm to societal standards. We have to emphasize thinking, learning, not a profit driven enterprise that is a race to the bottom. That is why Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emmanuel (or President Obama’s former chief of staff) along with Obama’s Education Arne Duncan have fought to restrict Chicago’s Teachers Union (that can make schools into private for profit non union enterprises). Intellectual curiosity must be preserved not corporate friendly indoctrination. The elite especially want people of color to be lacking of real wisdom, so no Revolution can occur in the world. People of color, the poor, and minorities are used as scapegoats by reactionaries in order to promote fascism and suppress human rights (this is why Nixon started the war on drugs that was continued under Ronald Reagan plus it continued today). The war on drugs didn’t solve drug issues. Ironically, the government and intelligence agencies have supported the drug trade for centuries to harm population including black Americans. This War on drugs increased the prison rate and folks with mere possession of marijuana are receiving higher prison sentences than some rapists, pedophiles, kidnappers, thieves, and even murderers. Legal disparities have occurred for powder cocaine and crack cocaine. Also, if you are convicted of drug crimes or felonies, you can have food stamps, public housing, Pell Grants, voting rights, etc. So, it’s an endless cycle of corporate corruption mixed with government complicity. The tough on crime rhetoric doesn’t work either as the prisons have been private for profit funding areas. In the final analysis, fascism should be abolished completely if we want a fairer, more democratic society.



The civilizations in Mesopotamia or the Fertile Crescent surrounds the modern day Middle East from Kuwait, Iraq, to Israel. Mesopotamia is nicknamed as “the Cradle of civilization.” This area is in southwest Asia. The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers are found in this region as well. The Mediterranean Sea is near the Fertile Crescent as well. Egypt is to the west of the Fertile Crescent with the Nile River and various fertile locations. The Fertile Crescent is filled with fertile farmland, trees, and urban locations not just rural places. The Euphrates River was near the places of Ur, Nippur, and Babylon. The Tigris River housed the city of Nineveh and Susa was next to the rivers in Elam. Permanent settlements came about in the river valley in the Fertile Crescent by the Neolithic Age (or the New Stone Age) in ca. 4,000 B.C. River valleys were used for crops because the soil was rich and it protected people from invasion from other nomadic peoples. Nomadic describes people who travel in search of food. The famous civilizations in the Fertile Crescent are plenty like Sumer, Babylon, Assyria, Israel, Persia, Elam, Aram, and others. Mesopotamian civilization deal with agriculture, the building of temples called ziggurats, trade and commerce, and slaves were cut of their hair. Slaves were in the bottom of the class system. They used labor with metal, metal weapons, and used irrigation methods to create more food in a surplus. They had the wheel plow and of course the Sumerians invented the model day wheel. Sumerians used cuneiform as a means to write information. Scribes existed in Sumeria and Sumerians were polytheistic by worshipping many gods. Mesopotamia had some of the first modern city states, kingdoms, and Empire. Babylonia was famous for the Code of Hammurabi (or a law that Hammurabi supported in Babylonian. Centralized governments existed in the region with priests as its rulers first). The Hammurabi code from ca. 1700 B.C. called for a harsh eye for an eye policy in dealing with disputes or crimes. Massive trade existed in the region, it was a crossroads for migration of peoples, and it topography might of caused invasions to occur. Flood control technology existed and flooding made rich soils vital for agriculture. Sumeria came before Akkadians (or a more Semitic people). Kish, Nippur, Lagash, Uruk, Eridu, and of course Ur were major cities in Sumeria. Sumerians believed n a more negative afterlife. Sumer was famous for cuneiform and ziggurats as well. After Akkad, the Babylonian Empire came in the 1800’s B.C. and the Assyrian Empire reached its peak in ca. 650 B.C. The Babylonians developed the Hanging Gardens in Babylon. The gardens were created by Nebuchadnezzar. They develop math (like algebra, geometry), astronomy, and formed a basic calendar. They had literature like the epic poem called “The Epic of Gilgamesh” from Babylon.



The period of 476 D.C. to 221 B.C. was the time of warring states. This was when different factions in China wanted to compete for you know power and influence. During the period of warring states, metal coinage was widespread. There were hundreds of schools of thought. Legalists were active. There were crossbows, writing brushes, and chopsticks were used. Ming Zi and Zhuang Zi were in power in this time. The Qin Dynasty came about from 221 to 206 B.C. The Qin Dynasty conquered all of the warring states Qin Shi Huangdi was the first Emperor from Qin to rule China as centralized unified state. He linked existing walls to form the Great Wall of China. He did a lot of policies in improving Chinese infrastructure like: having a standardized coinage, weights and measures, script and width of cart tracks, and Confucian ideas were spreading in this time. The Han Dynasty came from 206 B.C. to 220 A.D. The magnetic spoon was used for divination. Civil service exams began and the Silk Road to the West was opened up. Eastern Han invented paper (from 24 B.C. to 220 A.D.). Buddhism comes into China as well. Zhang Heng (78-139) invented the seismograph and calculated pi in 5 decimal places. Hua Tuo (150-200) developed acupuncture and moxibustion.





One lesson in life is said by Jesus (he violated unjust laws, he supported the cause of the poor & outcast, and he wasn’t a multimillionaire. He wanted to set the captives free), and even Confucius said is to do unto others as they would have them do unto you. You reap what you sow too. That means that if you treat people with fairness and equity, good things have high possibility of happening to you (or you will have a greater sense of moral & spiritual enlightenment). Life is social and individual. Therefore, it’s a duty to stridently enact reasonable actions to serve our fellow man. Serving people means to promote an end to the war and agree to monumental assistance to the disadvantaged in life’s road excluding torrent behavior. The legacies of the heroes of history still live in our souls since in our generation heroes can inspire us to carry forward to promote real causes. These causes are social equality, economic justice, civil liberty, ending poverty, promoting peace, and a myriad of improvements. These heroes aren’t just well known icons like Harriet Tubman and Dr. Martin Luther King, but little known figures like Paul Robeson, Ralph Abernathy, and others. We have a long way to go though. A lot of problems continue to fester in the world. Yet, with faith a determined acts, a way can be made where it seems like there is no way. I can’t tell you so many times I’ve failed and got back on my feet to complete a challenge effectively. Also, I want to mention this. Men shouldn’t be ashamed of being men just like a woman shouldn’t be ashamed of their femininity. A lot of males use money to just have romance in this new generation. A real man shouldn’t put price tag on love or pay their way into love. That is why I have more respect for a poor man in a real loving relationship than a rich man having to pay money to desperately seek attention from a female. Any man has the right to be aggressive in making positive contributions in their lives. So, we should reject emasculation of males and misogyny against females. Both genders should continue to firmly promote their power, worth, and dignity without obfuscation or equivocation.






It’s obvious that some people want to exploit the OWS movement in order to promote a globalist world government. Even though most people in the OWS movement want genuine solutions, elites like George Soros and Mikhail Gorbachev want to promote their agendas as well. Both men promote a new world order system for long decades. Gorbachev admitted that: “…My friend the late Pope John Paul II said it best. He said, ‘We need a new world order, one that is more stable, more humane, and more just.’ Others, including myself, have spoken about a new world order, but we are still facing the problem of building such a world order…We cannot leave things as they were before, when we are seeing that these protests are moving to even new countries, that almost all countries are now witnessing such protests, that the people want change. As we are addressing these challenges, these problems raised by these protest movements, we will gradually find our way towards a new world order…” He said these words in October 20th, 2011 in Lafayette College. In the final analysis, even all parts of the OWS are not perfect. We should accept the truth, oppose Wall Street corruption, make a distinction between sincere plus insincere people in OWS rallies, and be independent.



By Timothy

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