The Post-Feminist Apocalypse

Symptoms of decadence and decay in a dying empire are not hard to identify these days.

I've assembled a montage of photos from the recent Wasteland Weekend in California City, California. Read into them whatever you wish.  In view of the ongoing carnage we endure on a daily basis, America's infatuation -- or is it obsession? -- with violence, and the unraveling of anything resembling civility or sanity in our politics, I predictably have to wonder . . .

Are we peering into the future?

By the way, since my own fashion sense is a flawed mechanism, I make no negative judgment here. In fact, I find what follows, if not pleasing, certainly spectacular and thought-provoking.

Thus, my insatiable curiosity prompts me to ask:  If indeed clothes make the man (and woman), then what version of homo sapiens exactly do we see being constructed here?

Without further ado, I present you the post-feminist ladies of the apocalypse.



Golly, do they have a copy of The Road Warrior at my local video store here in Japan?

I need to brush up on survival tips.



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

I’m not worried … yes, I am … no, not really … well, maybe a little.

 

The prospect of Donald Trump being elected president in 2016 doesn't worry me at all.

He would be assassinated by the shadow government within 90 days of taking office.

Uh-oh!

That would mean that whatever half-wit buffoon -- the bad clone on the ticket as his Vice-President, an even worse version of Mr. Trump himself -- would now be in charge.

Would the self-declared-above-the-law slime balls in the CIA risk a "double-header" by taking out in such short order whatever unfortunate fool now sat in the Oval Office?

Of course, they would!  Accidents happen.  Fish bone stuck in the throat at a state dinner. Falling down the steps exiting Air Force One, splattering brains all over the tarmac.

The American public is so gullible.  No worries!  Problem solved.

But wait!  This time the shadow boys push things too far.  People are not just suspicious. The lights go on.  They figure it out!

"This is bullshit!" becomes the meme of the day.  Only it lasts for months and months.

And citizens are armed to the teeth!  Over 300,000,000 firearms in private hands.

Really scary!

Revolution anyone?

Naw . . . just one incredible made-for-TV shootout!  People dropping like flies.  Everyone starts living under their beds.  No one is safe anymore.

Hmm.  Anymore?  When is the last time we felt safe?

 

Who was president back then?

Millard Fillmore?

Frankly . . .

I'm a little worried.

How about you?




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

Oratory as a Weapon of Mass Deception

 

I used to say President Obama is a great orator.

In retrospect, particularly in view of his speeches over the past two years, I would have to modify my appraisal: Mr. Obama is a mind-numbingly effective orator -- with major emphasis on 'mind-numbing' -- whose powers of persuasion are both awe-inspiring and reality-altering.

But great? I think not.

You see, great orators don't insult their audiences by lying and using their enormous gifts to wreak havoc on the world, demean other world leaders, and generally inflict listeners with self-serving propaganda.

Great orators ennoble, enlighten, inspire!

There is so much deception, obfuscation, manipulative innuendo, faulty logic, sheer raw hypocrisy in his recent U.N. speech, I could write volumes. But it's not worth your time or mine, since so many of the lies upon which he built this petty and self-aggrandizing show have been repeated with such relentless regularity, they are part of the accepted collective wisdom of both the American public and the government propaganda apparatus, aka the main stream media.

I'll just throw out a few comments.

"But we cannot stand by when the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a nation is flagrantly violated. If that happens without consequence in Ukraine, it could happen to any nation gathered here today."

Like Yemen being bombed by the U.S.-supported tyrannical government of Saudi Arabia? Like Iraq? Or Libya? Or Afghanistan? Or any of the 30+ countries the U.S. has attacked or effected regime change by proxy?

Here's a real gem.

"It is not a conspiracy of U.S.-backed NGOs that expose corruption and raise the expectations of people around the globe; it’s technology, social media, and the irreducible desire of people everywhere to make their own choices about how they are governed."

Oh really? One of America's favorite 'NGOs' is the National Endowment for Democracy. First of all even calling it an NGO is a laugh. Everyone knows -- at least in the crowd I run with -- that the NED was created by the CIA and is funded by Congress. For some reason, whenever it shows up on the scene, countries become immersed in chaos and insurrection, with regime change soon to follow. The most recent victim of its handiwork is Ukraine, where it fomented the overthrow of the legitimate democratically-elected government, then installed a chocolate puppet doll to do the bidding of the U.S.

Here the President deftly conflated bragging and threats, as in, "See how we've messed up things for you, Russia? If you don't tow the line, you ain't seen nothing yet, baby!"

"Sanctions have led to capital flight, a contracting economy, a fallen ruble, and the emigration of more educated Russians."

Then, just when I though it was safe to stop gagging and listen further, I picked up on this.

"When a dictator slaughters tens of thousands of his own people, that is not just a matter of one nation’s internal affairs — it breeds human suffering on an order of magnitude that affects us all."

Which is why we supplied chemical weapons to Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein in order to get the job done right back when he was one of our buddies? Which is why we overthrew the democratically-elected leader of Chile and replaced him with a brutal autocrat who then proceeded to kill tens of thousands of his people? Of course, I could go on with many more examples. But it's tedious and pointless, as hypocrisy is apparently now considered one of the great virtues in the Empire of Chaos.

"Assad reacted to peaceful protests by escalating repression and killing that, in turn, created the environment for the current strife."

Really? Is that the whole story? Or just the one the U.S. creates for its fairy tale version of every uprising it seeds and supports to overthrow governments it doesn't like?

Oh yes . . . about those crazy Muslims running around beheading people, driving tens of thousands to flee their native lands and seek refuge in Europe:

"We know that ISIL — which emerged out of the chaos of Iraq and Syria — depends on perpetual war to survive."

Like the U.S. military-industrial complex? Or the U.S. itself which can't stop bombing countries into complying with its dictates?



Credit where credit is due, however:  Our president did stumble into the truth a few times. Thus, here is absolutely my favorite quote from his speech . . .

"On this basis, we see some major powers assert themselves in ways that contravene international law. We see an erosion of the democratic principles and human rights that are fundamental to this institution’s mission; information is strictly controlled, the space for civil society restricted. We’re told that such retrenchment is required to beat back disorder; that it’s the only way to stamp out terrorism, or prevent foreign meddling."

. . . because it perfectly describes the United States of America, in particular the policies aggressively promoted by Mr. Obama himself.

---

Watch President Obama's entire speech and judge for yourself whether this man is ever capable of doing anything but creating a smokescreen for America's malfeasance in the world, its monomaniacal fixation with its power, its self-proclaimed right to lecture and dictate to others how the world should be run.

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

Promises and Platitudes vs. Contractual Commitment

 

In my last posting, I proposed that we as voters demand that Bernie Sanders make a clear, firm commitment toward less military, less war, less imperial misadventure, less of much that goes on in the name of "defense of the homeland", specifically those items which are bankrupting our country and making the U.S. the enemy of the world.

Many of his supporters predictably rallied to his defense and directed me to a recent document which appears on the web site of the esteemed senator.

All well and good. I'm glad Bernie Sanders recognizes the need to "answer" to the people and explain where he stands on things.

Without getting into a lot of specifics here -- I may do that in a future posting -- his policy statement certainly leaves a lot of room for interpretation. It's intentionally vague. It is the kind of public relations-oriented piece which we've come to expect of other lesser men and women but is not at all flattering to a self-described socialist who has taken admirable stands on many other issues. It is fraught with the sort of sweeping, noble-sounding but non-committal declarations that allowed Mr. Sanders to vote, for example, against the War in Iraq but for funding that very same war in defense appropriations bills.

Maybe that's fine for some people but I think we should expect more.

If the country is not to be further bankrupted by endless war, then nice-sounding feel-good assurances will not cut it. We need specifics. We need details. We need accountability.

Among other things, we need to demand of Mr. Sanders and any candidate who claims to have the interests of the U.S. at heart: ending the illegal war crime of bombing countries with drones, which is just recruiting more terrorists and swelling the ranks of jihadists; closing most of the 900+ bases around the world; ending the confrontations with Russia and China; closing Guantanamo and all of the other "black sites" where we torture; firing the neocons who infect our government and foreign policy apparatus like a deadly plague; stopping all of our meddling in other countries; ending the policy of regime change which has produced anger and chaos across the globe, creating more enemies than we can ever possibly deal with; cutting the military budget by 40 or 50%, since we already spend more than 10 times what any other country in the world spends on defense.

And we need to demand it in writing using legally-binding contracts.

Or it simply won't get done.

My strategy is not designed to target Mr. Sanders or just defense policy. In fact, it applies across the board on a host of issues -- Social Security and Medicare which are both under attack, the minimum wage, debt and mortgage relief, affordable education, safer food and water, ending corporate welfare, are just some examples -- critical issues where there is a lot of talk and promises from politicians but no action. It applies across the board to every individual running for federal office, Democrat, Republican, Green, Libertarian, Tea Party.

If you look at many of these areas of citizen concern, you find enormous agreement, polls reflecting consensus numbers in the 60s, 70s, 80s, even 90% of the public.

72% of American voters want a federal minimum wage
of $10.00 per hour or more.

74% of American voters are for ending
oil industry subsidies.

75% of voters want fair trade agreements protecting jobs,
workers, the environment.

76% of voters want a cut back on military spending.

76% of voters want the U.S. completely out of Afghanistan.

79% of voters want no reductions in Social Security,
70% support expanding it.

79% of voters want no reductions in Medicare.

80% of voters oppose the Citizens United Supreme Court
decision, with 65% strongly opposing it.

68% of voters think taxes on the wealthy
should be increased.

71% of voters support massive infrastructure renewal.

93% of voters want GMO labeling on their food.

There is huge disagreement alright. It's between what the people want done and what our elected officials do!

All I'm saying is . . . this is not democracy!

Not by any stretch or any standard or any interpretation of our Constitution can you call it democracy when the people want one thing and our legislators deliver the opposite.

What I am pushing -- hoping people will stick up for themselves and regain some control of their country and their own futures -- is a specific method for guaranteeing on certain specific issues that our elected officials represent us and do what we want!

Is my plan radical?

At one time, the idea that America should chuck its bondage to the King of England and go it alone was radical. The suggestion we should free the slaves was radical. The outrageous idea that women should have the right to vote was radical.

My plan is no more radical that the Constitution itself. That hallowed document which everyone loves to point to but apparently very few bother to read, lays the foundation for self-government -- government of the people, by the people, for the people.

It doesn't say . . . "government for the rich and powerful and to hell with the rest of you."

No, the idea that people should have direct say in the running of this country is only radical right now because we as citizens have become convinced that we should just sit back and let the "experts" run things, that we are powerless and should just shut up. We've been convinced of this by a tiny elite of rich and powerful, anti-democratic plutocrats who love having complete control of our government and our legislative bodies, who literally now own our politicians, because it serves their agenda, keeps them rich, and makes sure that nothing stands in their way of total autocratic rule.

If you are as fed up as I am at the gridlock, the shutdowns, the broken promises, the back door deals, the endless excuses, the horrible waste of our hard-earned tax dollars which ends up lining the pockets of the already wealthy 1%, the Wall Street bankers, and the military-industrial complex -- which keeps the wars going because that keeps the profits flowing -- if you are as fed up as I am at we the people always being last on the list when it comes to fixing the problems we need to fix for America to meet its constitutional mandate to promote the general welfare and offer a good life for all Americans, not just the filthy rich, then at least . . . LOOK AT WHAT I'M PROPOSING.

It's different. It's unprecedented. But it's not very difficult and it certainly isn't radical.

It's a way to have REAL REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY in this country.

It's a way to have our elected officials serve us, take orders from us, get done at least some of the things we want done for a change.

My offer still stands. My strategy is explained in simple, readable language in two of my books. They are available for free. Just click on the "Contact Me" button on the right side of the page and send me a request.

If you wait for your next door neighbor and your next door neighbor waits for you and you both wait for someone else to start paying attention, we'll never get things straightened out and America will continue its sure steady decline. The rich and powerful will eat the meal, you and I will get the crumbs that fall off the table.

Just take a few minutes. We can have the country we want and a decent future to hand down to our children and their children.

Is this too much to ask?

---

 

"Candidate Contracts: Taking Back Our Democracy" is available from all the usual suspects . . .

Amazon (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1QJRiNZ
Apple (iBook) . . . apple.co/1BXnPcy
Amazon (Paperback) . . . amzn.to/1Cuq0du
Barnes & Noble . . . bit.ly/1GpTTLq
Smashwords . . . bit.ly/1B4DQCp
Direct from printer . . . bit.ly/1MGjDnN




"Fighting for the Democracy We Deserve" was published just a few weeks ago. But it is available both as a Kindle ebook and in print from Amazon . . .

Amazon US (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1VMf2Ft
Amazon CA (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1in513n
Amazon UK (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1KfjtQO
Amazon JP (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1OMslBG
Amazon (Paperback) . . . amzn.to/1L9SdIC


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

What part of “Listen to me!” didn’t you understand?

 

It astounds me how wimpy and servile voters are. Dude, we're Americans! We're supposed to be independent, tough, ruggedly individualistic, exceptional!

No one pushes us around! Unless they want their asses kicked!

Right.

So why is it when the election cycle rolls around and as voters we have to start listening to the professional windbags courting our approval, we let the candidates tell us what they're going to do when they get elected?
Excuse me! Shouldn't we be telling them what they'll be doing if they get elected?

Voters seem to have forgotten how much power they collectively hold in their hands. The simple fact is, if we don't like what we see, we don't have to vote for someone. And if we don't vote for them, they are out of a job.

Let me talk directly to you progressives out there — since the odds that a conservative or even centrist is visiting my web site are pretty nil — and discuss a perfect example of the kind of surrender that has perpetuated the powerlessness we all complain about, i.e. not getting our elected officials to listen to us and begin serving us instead of the 1%.

Understandably, we lefties are encouraged by the rise in popularity of Bernie Sanders.

His campaign is certainly a much-welcome breath of fresh air next to both the belligerent bombast of the certifiably insane Republican presidential candidates, and the slippery shape-shifting rhetoric of Hillary the Terminator, the Democrat's heavy puncher in the neocon-driven cage fight to decide who has the most expedient blue print for incinerating the planet and destroying all living things in the nuclear holocaust of WWIII.

Why is Sanders gaining traction?

Because unlike everyone else, he's addressing bread-and-butter issues, the challenges which affect the daily lives of most Americans. He's talking about better jobs, increasing income, reducing wealth inequality, rebuilding our industrial base, bringing factories and jobs back to America, improving health care, education, making college affordable, etc.

Unfortunately . . . Sanders is NOT TALKING ABOUT ending unnecessary wars, reducing the defense budget, reversing the self-destructive pursuit of American empire, ending the monopoly control of foreign policy and promotion of military adventurism by the military-industrial complex, halting the unconstitutional citizen surveillance by the NSA, CIA, FBI and other security agencies, or ending the fraudulent War on Terror.

The simple truth is, all of his noble aspirations about improving the day-to-day lives of the majority of Americans will come to naught unless the militarization of American society and the imperialist agenda of world domination is reversed. As long as the current military mindset of Washington DC prevails, there will never be any money to address the needs of American citizens, nor will it ever be a priority. There will always be another bogeyman, terrorist group, rogue nation, another war, another "humanitarian intervention" to pursue. You and I, the everyday Americans who fund all of these illegal, immoral misadventures and self-destructive policies, will always be last on the list. Not even in the kitchen, much less on the back burner.

Whether Mr. Sanders is willfully ignorant of this reality, or whether he's just confused, it's up to us to set him straight.
Here's what we say . . .

"Mr. Sanders, your intentions are good. You want to help the majority of American citizens enjoy a decent life. That's very nice. But you're delusional if you think that's going to happen with an out-of-control military and a foreign policy built around confrontation and conquest. You want to be president and we want you to be president. But here's the deal. Unless you change your positions on defense and foreign policy, you are not getting our vote. It's your choice. You come around and stop all of this insanity, we'll back you 100%. If you don't, you can say 'Hi' to Hillary when she walks by you at the Democratic convention on her way to the podium to make her acceptance speech."

Yes, this is playing hardball.

But you know what? If we don't use our right to vote to our advantage, then there's not much point in having it. We're just puppets pretending we live in a democracy.

Now you might ask . . .

Is there a way to get this message to Mr. Sanders?

Glad you asked.

I have a clear, completely bulletproof, step-by-step strategy for doing exactly that.

It's contained in my two books, Candidate Contracts: Taking Back Our Democracy and the abridged version of the same set of plans, Fighting for the Democracy We Deserve.

Am I trying to sell you a book?

Yes . . . but no.

If you are too cheap to buy either, or you simply can't afford it, give me your email address and I'll send you a free PDF copy.

Does it get easier than that?

Take a few minutes here and save your country from the tyranny of the rich and powerful.

Your children will thank you.

---

 

"Candidate Contracts: Taking Back Our Democracy" is available from all the usual suspects . . .
Amazon (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1QJRiNZ
Apple (iBook) . . . apple.co/1BXnPcy
Amazon (Paperback) . . . amzn.to/1Cuq0du
Barnes & Noble . . . bit.ly/1GpTTLq
Smashwords . . . bit.ly/1B4DQCp
Direct from printer . . . bit.ly/1MGjDnN




"Fighting for the Democracy We Deserve" was published just a couple weeks ago. But it is available both as a Kindle ebook and in print from Amazon . . .

Amazon US (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1VMf2Ft
Amazon CA (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1in513n
Amazon UK (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1KfjtQO
Amazon JP (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1OMslBG
Amazon (Paperback) . . . amzn.to/1L9SdIC



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

What Passes for Rationality in the Modern World

 

"If you pull your trigger, my gun will instantly fire as well."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. If you pull your trigger my gun will go off too."
"My arm's getting tired."
"Let's get this over with."

Appropriately named MAD -- Mutual Assured Destruction -- it has been in place since the 1950s and constitutes a strategy of deterrence whereby both Russia and the U.S. refrains from using their vast nuclear arsenals because both know their nations and probably the rest of the world would be destroyed. This bilateral suicide pact has been keeping the world "safe" for over half a century.

Now the U.S. in its quest for ultimate superiority and global supremacy is chipping away at it, installing ABM systems on Russia's borders, literally creating a powerful incentive for them to "get this over with".  It literally makes it a rational choice for each side to get a jump on the other and by initiating a pre-emptive strike.

I don't think Russia will hit the launch buttons. Despite all of the venomous anti-Russian propaganda and Putin-bashing going on right now in the U.S., Russia has been militarily a defensive nation for several hundred years. This is also true of China. Especially compared to the U.S. and its allies, both Russia and China have been notably unaggressive in their pursuit of power and standing in the world.

That's not to say either nation will cower before the chest-thumping of America's relentless pursuit of military superiority and world domination. Without any doubt, given what both countries have suffered historically at the hands of aggressors both in the Asia and the Europe, one can be absolutely certain they will stand their ground.

Yet, building on its almost perfect record of losing every conflict it has either started or been involved with since WWII, the U.S. is creating the conditions for confrontation with China with its "pivot to Asia", and pushing all the wrong buttons by starting the conflict in Ukraine, then prompting a number of countries on Russia's borders to station missiles and augment their military against an imagined threat of Russian aggression.

I'm not going to not pull punches here. Obama, Biden, Kerry, Clinton before him, and the entire rat pack of power-crazed imperialists are driving the America and the world toward war -- the war to end all wars, because it will end everything.


Hasn't the world had enough conflict, destruction and carnage?

Do any of these people read history?

Is there any way to explain all of the self-sabotaging maneuvering going on right now?

Let's look at this with the the clarity and objectivity you and I have by living outside the Washington DC bubble and imperious fantasy world of our neocon government.

Who in their right mind would come up with MAD, then destabilize it with policies which replace its precarious, paranoid, hair-trigger brinkmanship with more confrontation and a renewed arms race?

Aah . . . maybe I'm on to something!

Who in their right mind . . .?





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

Fighting for the Democracy We Deserve

 

Everybody is busy. I understand that.

Finding the time to read a book is a challenge.

So I am doing my best to make is easy.

My latest effort is to condense down to 56 pages the essence of my ideas for taking our democracy back from the plutocrats, having the voice of the people heard again, and putting our country back on track toward achieving a good life for all Americans, not just the privileged few.

My proposals are not difficult. But they are different than anything else around. Believe me I know. I read hours and hours every day. What do I see? A lot of head-scratching, pining, wishing, whining, growling, blaming, grumbling, shaming, denigration, screaming, vitriolic abuse.

It's a veritable grouse-fest out there!
In spite of all of the speculating, bloviating, bellyaching and bombast, there is one thing that is conspicuously absent ...

Solutions!

Remember those? We have problems and they go away because of . . . solutions.

I'm not saying I have all the answers.

But I do have a detailed plan for replacing the do-nothing, pay-for-play clown-puppets who are now in office. You know who they are. They're the ones who smile and thank you for voting them into their cushy jobs, then go to Washington DC and ignore you.

What's the simple truth? Our democracy is broken. We don't have a democracy anymore!

And guess what? None of the other problems get solved until we fix that.

I can only do what I can do. Which is put it out there. I'm not going to beg people to give this the attention it deserves.

Fighting for the Democracy We Deserve offers a real plan.

56 pages. How long does it take to read 56 pages?

Still too long?

Be patient. I'm working on a version that fits on one side of a match box.

After that, my final dramatic attempt to trim it down will be to fit it on a grain of rice.

We eat a lot of rice here in Japan.

---

Fighting for the Democracy We Deserve was just published a couple days ago. But it is available now both as a Kindle ebook and in print.

 

Amazon US (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1VMf2Ft
Amazon CA (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1in513n
Amazon UK (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1KfjtQO
Amazon JP (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1OMslBG
Amazon (Paperback) . . . amzn.to/1L9SdIC
Direct from printer . . . bit.ly/1i7ISFM

Let's fix the mess this country is in.


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