What, me worry? New season of Jersey Shore starts Thursday August 4th!

Legitimate debate has become impossible in the psychotic cacophony of punditry, posturing, pandering, character assassination and disinformation.

And now at the darkest hour, they still seek to blind us.

Soon no useful information will be available at all.

But we still have Jersey Shore!

New season premieres Thursday August 4th, two days after the default.



God bless America!



[ This originated at the author's web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

"Will a black hole eat the Earth on 11-11-11?"

Will a black hole eat the Earth on 11-11-11?

We just don't know . . .

Exxon Mobil . . . will you marry me?

Exxon Mobil corporate headquarters in Irving, Texas.

If I can't marry my horse or my same sex partner, then I want to marry a corporation.

Exxon Mobil Corporation . . . will you marry me?

How about you, General Electric, Ltd?

Under the current interpretations of the law by courts at all levels on the legal status of corporations, they are considered "persons".  Yes . . . they have all of the rights we normal citizen type persons have under our constitution __ including the right of free speech, the right to assemble (think monopoly), the right to petition the government, the right to bear arms (think security guards), the appropriate standing to effect contracts and seek judicial enforcement of such instruments (although individual corporate owners and managers are themselves insulated from prosecution in court), and overall the freedom and mobility to operate unencumbered by the original restrictions put on them when corporate laws set strict guidelines and sensible limits on how corporations should function in our society.

There are some limitations imposed the laws of physics, which sensibly even align with the edicts of common sense.  For example, corporations can be indicted for crimes and fined, but not be incarcerated.  How exactly would you put a "corporation" behind bars?  They own the prisons anyway, so that wouldn't work out too well.  Similarly, they are unable to physically walk into a voting booth to cast a ballot.  But as the news on a daily basis amply demonstrates, they are certainly quite capable of buying politicians and getting their way in the hallowed halls of our government-to-the-highest bidder, abetted and sanctioned by the newly hatched prerogative of personhood delivered to them on a silver platter by the Supreme Court via the recent Citizens United ruling.
However you cut it, the law says corporations are persons.

Some people take issue with this.  It's not just the counter-intuitive aspect of this legal characterization, but the alarmingly advantageous position this puts corporations relative to the economy and the other social, economic and political entities which might serve to challenge and impede their power.  There is the very tangible fear that these "organisms" __ remember they are people __ which flaunt a monolithic devotion and allegiance only to making money, will become uncontrollable monsters.  Pumped up on the steroids of greed, they will destroy everything which gets in the way of their pure pursuit of profit.
Corporations, especially transnational corporations, are already erasing national borders.  In our own country they are often accused of erasing our way of life.  And the bigger and more formidable they become, with the rights and privileges conferred on them as persons __ really BIG persons __ citizens will lack the colossal wealth and influence corporations will wield and end up virtually powerless to stop their assault.  This will finally result in the destruction of America and the subjugation of all of us to corporate rule, an enslavement to faceless entities which will turn America into a feudal state with us as pathetic serfs.

Hah!

As if throwing the country and all future generations into the toilet was a bad thing, when there's money to be made.  Whiners, I say!
Which brings me back to my original question.

Why can't I marry one?
Some might think I am just marrying for money.  But just hold on!  Before you go off on some half-cocked harangue questioning my sincerity, trying to read some purely ulterior motive into this, let me just say that I have always thought corporations are totally hot!    This goes way back.  Some of my best friends are corporations.  And I get letters in the mail all of the time from them.

So back off!

In defense of what might seem to be an impossible or purely ridiculous attempt to bring a little corporate love into my life, let me point out that nowhere have I seen it specifically stated that these corporate persons cannot marry.  In fact, I am selflessly willing to invite ridicule, risk complete humiliation and offer my controversial, highly publicized marriage to public scrutiny (the cover of People Magazine would be very nice) and potential judicial review.  That is, I am willing to marry a corporation and subject the validity of our sacred bond of matrimony to the vigilance and astute judgment of the highest courts of the land, should someone wish to challenge it.

Whoa!  I see Apple is doing great these days.  Sales of the iPad just broke new records.  Their iPhone is still leaping off the shelves.  Plus I am already a Mac user.

This is perfect!  Sounds like a marriage made in Heaven.

Apple Corporation . . . will you marry me?











[  This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com  ]

We are doomed! And now on a more pessimistic note . . .

We can circle the wagons but remember THEY own the wagons. Which means they were probably built in Vietnam or China by skinny 11-year old children chained to their work stations, too weak to properly tighten the lug nuts. So . . . the wagons will fall apart if anything more massive than a moth or hummingbird bumps into them. And there WE will be holding our pitchforks staring at the shiny nose cone of a drone-fired missile which just broke the sound barrier.

I wonder what's on TV tonight.

American Idol!



[This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?

I just read a short but fascinating article called "The GOP to the Working Class is Like Colonel Sander Promising a Good Life to Chickens". This is definitely my kind of piece, because it raises age-old philosophical questions. And it lends itself to offering anecdotal commentary, as opposed to carefully researched and statistically supported scholarship.

Here is what I think!

One of my new friends on Facebook is a chicken (that's his profile pic) and has been living at the Colonel Sanders Happy Farm For Chickens for several weeks. He says that everything is great! He does notice that every day, several of his chicken buddies disappear. But he figures they are probably just visiting friends on another happy chicken farm somewhere. The only thing that bothers him is the constant smell of burning flesh coming from some fast food restaurant down the street with a big KFC sign out front.

Golly, all of this is making me hungry. Any Republicans out there willing to buy my lunch?

Anyway . . . where was I?

Oh! I'm done. That's all I have to say.

So the next time someone asks you why Democrats (or any informed, rational persons who have the greater interests of the country at heart) would support the Republican Party in its wholesale assault on the hard-working, honest and genuinely loyal Americans who make up the majority of citizens in this country, the answer is simple . . .

They are dumber than a chicken.



[ This originated at the author's personal blog site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

11-11-11

Will the world end on 11-11-11?

Check out the promotional video for my recently published novel . . .




[ This posting originated at the author's personal webpage: http://jdrachel.com/11-11-11/ ]

Back To The Basics

Mark Karlin just posted at Buzzflash (a favorite site of mine) a very articulate and timely article called "Just a Few Ways Corporations Kill Innovation in the United States". Read it here.


It got me thinking.


In my senior year high school civics class in lovely Detroit, I was taught that there are three pillars to a solid, vibrant economy: business, labor and government. Moreover, it is the tension and dynamic interaction of these three co-equal institutions which fuels economic growth and raises the overall standard of living for all Americans. This has been the structural foundation of our national economic miracle.


What has happened?


Labor unions have been destroyed, government has been bought by corporations, and big business has elevated itself to a position of absolute control (if not heartless tyranny) in the form of a corporate kleptocracy raiding the Treasury and impoverishing the citizenry.

 
Maybe it's time to revisit that old textbook.

[ This article originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

Stories

My short story "Slow Bullets", an adapted excerpt from my recent full-length novel 11-11-11, just came out in the summer issue of Forge Journal, both online and in print. This is the second story published from the book. Check it out!

[ This posting originated at the author's personal website: http://jdrachel.com ]