Scandal-mania

If ever there were a Canadian leader who merited punishment* for crimes, corruptions, conspiracies, and conflicts-of-interest while in office, Canada’s present PM would top the list. Here is a recent summary of 68 Liberal Scandals and counting ...:

68 Liberal Scandals and counting...
(Lianne Rood M.P. | Nov 28, 2024 | Time 17:51 min.) at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NWhPKZbKnU
(Additional witness below¹)

How has this been allowed to go on for almost a decade? The short answer is undoubtedly R.I.C.E.²  — aspects of Reward.Ideology.Compromise/Corruption/Coercion.Ego on the PM's part and aspects on the part of his complicit, clapping seals. Too many people are too insensible or too afraid to admit the perennial truths that:

• the nature of power is to corrupt;
• psychopathy and power abuse in politics (and elsewhere) manifests election after election;
• human nature is constantly prone to the enticements of R.I.C.E.;
• power must have enforceable limits and prompt consequences for breach.

The PM spoke at the National Liberal Caucus Holiday party this past week referencing family:

“Like most families, sometimes we have fights around the holidays,” (laughter, applause) “but of course, like most families, we find our way through it.” (More applause.)³

Except, Dear “Family” Leader, if the leader manifests in the dark triad,⁴ the only way to survive is to get out from under such influence and power-abuse — to eject the “family” leader as leader for there to be any hope of healing and recovery. Such dark-triad leaders have no self-awareness and thrive on: 1) creating drama upon drama; 2) capturing narcissistic supply; 3) milking people and  systems dry; and 4) moving on to the next naïve source and supply. Such “leaders” are adept at surrounding themselves with flying monkeys⁵ as we have seen nigh every day in the House.

And so, WE Canadians

• who oppose crime, corruption, conspiracy, hypocrisy, deception, domination, etc., etc.; and
• who hope and pray that, sooner than later, we will get an honest, honorable head-servant for the People;

Yes, WE call on every serving or wanna-be MP (left, right middle, or far) to:

• promise to never sacrifice integrity for any aspect of R.I.C.E.;
• be discerning about honeypots, yacht-ops, and psy-ops⁶;
• do what is necessary to clear and remediate already existing (or future) cases of personal compromise, coercion, corruption, crime, or mistake;
• publicly apologize for any and all piped-piper responses to pscience⁷ narratives of COVID, climate, World Order (WO), transhumanism, Utopianism, etc., etc.;
• refuse to become a flying monkey for anyone;
• always retain in thought and action that you are a servant of the people, not their master;
• remember the lessons and tragedies of history;
• vow to never facilitate the repeat of such tragedies;
• defend to the death (whether of life or political career) the Constitutional rights and freedoms of the People of Canada.

If any of you is unable to commit to these principles, you are not worthy of our vote. And God willing, we will remember every one of you who failed to protect our rights and freedoms⁸ over the past decade; who became a flying monkey — a clapping seal; who severely damaged our great Country.

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*(which could perhaps be ameliorated to some degree if he: 1) fully confessed his crimes, corruptions, conspiracies, conflicts-of-interest, deceptions, etc., etc.; 2) genuinely regretted and repented of his conduct and its fallout; 3) sought to remediate as best he could the damage he did; and 4) sought forgiveness from all those he has harmed or injured)
See also: https://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2022/08/when-do-we-call-this-treason.html

1. • LILLEY UNLEASHED: How many scandals can the Trudeau government have at once? (Toronto Sun | Jun 5,2024 | Time 2:26min.) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJLcB7jchgE
   • Conservative Senator EXPOSES All Of Justin Trudeau's SCANDALS!
(Canadian Capital Clips | Oct 10, 2024 | Time 1:06:10 min.) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoimQhfAODo
   • Liberal Insider EXPOSES Trudeau Corruption In Department of Finance!
(Canadian Capital Clips | Dec 18, 2024 | Time 2:16:05 min.) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCmpNcH4TXM
   • Liberal Scandals GREATEST HITS | Volume 1: SNC-Lavalin
(Capital Cringe | Dec 14, 2024 | Time 2:14:34 min.) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=359Xd5uXgI8
2. https://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-price-of-rice.html
3. Trudeau talks "family" at Liberal caucus holiday party, ...
(The Canadian Press | Dec 18, 2024 | Tim 4:1 min.) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjnnlelvun8
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_triad
“The dark triad is a psychological theory of personality, first published by Delroy L. Paulhus and Kevin M. Williams in 2002,[1] that describes three notably offensive, but non-pathological personality types: Machiavellianism, sub-clinical narcissism, and sub-clinical psychopathy.[2][3][4][5] Each of these personality types is called dark because each is considered to contain malevolent qualities.[2][6][7][8]
“All three dark triad traits are conceptually distinct although empirical evidence shows them to be overlapping. They are associated with a callous–manipulative interpersonal style.[9]
• “Narcissism is characterized by grandiosity, pride, egotism, and a lack of empathy.[10]
• “Machiavellianism is characterized by manipulativeness, indifference to morality, lack of empathy, and a calculated focus on self-interest.[11][12]
• “Psychopathy is characterized by continuous antisocial behavior, impulsivity, selfishness, callous and unemotional traits (CU),[13] and remorselessness.[14]”
5. • Narcissists and Their Flying Monkeys
https://psychcentral.com/pro/exhausted-woman/2019/07/narcissists-and-their-flying-monkeys#1
   • Are Flying Monkeys Also Narcissists Or Just Cowards? (Surviving Narcissism | Mar 31, 2022 | Time 13:16) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCnQslcq7pQ
   • Narcissists And Their Flying Monkeys (Surviving Narcissism | Oct. 4, 2018 | 12:10 min.) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBIauMej5Ok
   • Are You a Narcissist’s Flying Monkey? | https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/women-autism-spectrum-disorder/202010/are-you-narcissist-s-flying-monkey
   E.G.: New Canadian finance minister insists Feds "very proud" of Fall Economic Statement | FULL
(Global News | Dec 17, 2024 | Time 58:15 min.) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isr0t0h6nMk
   E.G.: Ms Gould: https://moc-n-dox.blogspot.com/2024/05/hyper-hypocrisy-at-its-finest.html (and many others)
6. https://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2020/10/corruption-by-design.html
7.  Pscience is the corrupted offshoot of honorable Science. It is the inevitable consequence of man's obsessive pursuit and protection of power, gain, glory, and domination. Pscience is pseudo, psychopathic, propagandizing, plagiarizing, politicized, psy-opic, and above all, profit-obsessed, and profit-driven. This obsessive pursuit and protection by people without conscience is often enabled by naïve, trusting, or fear-filled acolytes. Pscience is a one-faith, one-dogma, heretic-fearing, self-deceiving, other-censoring system.
https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2021/12/when-pscience-becomes-god.html
https://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2021/06/death-of-science-tyranny-of-pscience.html
https://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2020/10/pscience.html
https://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2021/07/a-representative-history-of-pscience.html
8. https://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2022/02/nb-we-will-not-forget.html

Obedience Training?

Consider this:

The TSA (and other experiments in evil) (Time 17:56) at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbJOF-2UZFg&feature=youtu.be
or at https://www.corbettreport.com/tsa/

So, if resistance makes a difference, let us resist.
How? you ask.
Here's an idea, (a Twelve-Step program), if you live near a U.S. airport:

1)  Gather fellow activists and agree on a flight day and time.
2)  Convince a person of means to donate to your cause.
3)  Buy as many discount tickets as your group needs.
4)  Use the principle of flash mob—perhaps 6 to 10 of you at a time.
5)  Space yourself as appropriate in the molestation line.
6)  When your turn comes, refuse the molestation.
7)  Be rational, articulate, and firm.
8)  Speak truthfully, but do not humiliate the TSA agent—use civil disobedience.
9)  Affirm that flying is not worth the price of humiliation.
10)  Have a fellow activist film the encounter.
11)  Post it to social media.
12)  Repeat in U.S. cities everywhere, as often as possible.

If the TSA can do Airport Theatre, perhaps the (un)common man and woman can write and perform their own theatre scripts—making a scene and a difference.

---------------------------/
See also this related podcast by James Corbett: How TV News Manufactures Consent (Time 6:10) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvr57lseJd8

The Face of Servitude ?

ser•vi•tude
NOUN
1. slavery or bondage of any kind: political or intellectual [or spiritual] servitude.
2. ...
Synonyms: bondage, bonds, chains, confinement, enslavement, obedience, peonage, serfdom, serfhood, subjection, subjugation, thrall, thralldom, vassalage, yoke,
(Source: Dictionary.com)

In this latter-day, when the “promises” of power and gain have again captivated the imagination of most of the world and ALL of the powers that be(lieve chiefly in themselves and secret agendas), we sometimes run across the transparent face of servitude. Could this be one?

Watch John Gross, Lead Engineer - NIST Report
(National Institute of Standards and Technology)
beginning at minute 32:35.

9/11: Blueprint for Truth (Time 1:59:07)
San Francisco Bay Area architect, Richard Gage, AIA,
provides the myth-shattering scientific forensic evidence
of the explosive controlled demolition of all 3 WTC
high-rise buildings on September 11, 2001.at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vb7o-OOe20

Do we ever ponder why it is that men and women of intelligence and education can so publicly abandon conscience and integrity? can present themselves so pitifully déjà vu the tobacco boys¹ of not so long ago?

Thus, to all those (being most of us, to some degree or other):

▪  who daily sacrifice integrity for a wage, a perk, a promise, a position, a privilege;
▪  who are addicted to a thing, substance, person, philosophy, idea;
▪  who have become locked—with oaths, covenants, or contracts—into a hierarchy of blind obedience to “superiors” or handlers (which includes the military & the “stars” of every stripe);
▪  who daily fear: “What will become of me” if I blow the whistle? if I tell the truth? if I break covenant with evil? if I stand up for justice and judgment?
▪  who believe there is no way out;
▪  who believe there is no forgiveness;

consider this:

[W]hen the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive [even if he die]. Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die [a spiritual death]. … Therefore I will judge you, … every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, …? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye (Old Testament | Ezekiel 18:27-28, 30-32; see also Ezekiel 33).

Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool  (Old Testament | Isaiah 1:16-18).

-------------------------------/
1. The Tobacco Boys at http://www.dejavu-times.blogspot.ca/2010/01/vc-beware-spokesman.html
Additional Considerations:
» To Loyalists Everywhere at http://www.dejavu-times.blogspot.ca/2009/07/to-loyalists-everywhere.html
» A Proliferation of Masters at http://www.dejavu-times.blogspot.ca/2010/01/proliferation-of-masters.html
» “The Great Chain of Being” [Subservient] at http://www.dejavu-times.blogspot.ca/2011/12/great-chain-of-being-subservient.html

Bawdy Politics ?

(OR, Alas! Alas! Wo is US!)

In remembrance of the 120th year of the death of

Joseph Ferdinand Keppler (1 February 1838 Vienna – 19 February 1894 New York) … an Austrian-born American cartoonist and caricaturist, who greatly influenced the growth of satirical cartooning in the United States;^[*]

and the 125th year of the publication of his The Bosses of the Senate^[†], I repost his sadly enduring look at puppetry, power, and “bawdy politics”:

The Bosses of the Senate by
Joseph Keppler [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
First published in Puck 1889.
page URL: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AThe_Bosses_of_the_Senate_by_Joseph_Keppler.jpg
file URL: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/The_Bosses_of_the_Senate_by_Joseph_Keppler.jpg

How many déjà vus before we actually VU? and then DO something about this?! And that includes especially you: SCOTUS, POTUS, SOTUS, and HOROTUS!

PS: If “bawdy politics” can describe the (past and current) Senate, what might we call the House^‡?!

------------------------------/
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Ferdinand_Keppler
† http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Bosses_of_the_Senate_by_Joseph_Keppler.jpg
‡ (being the House of Representatives, which, in this age of abbreviation and economy, may be shortened to HOR, which surprisingly!! may be a synonym!)

Accessory?

From Wikipedia¹:

An accessory is a person who assists in the commission of a crime, but who does not actually participate in the commission of the crime as a joint principal. The distinction between an accessory and a principal is a question of fact and degree:

● The principal is the one whose acts or omissions, accompanied by the relevant mens rea (Latin for "guilty mind"), are the most immediate cause of the actus reus (Latin for "guilty act").

● If two or more people are directly responsible for the actus reus, they can be charged as joint principals (see common purpose). The test to distinguish a joint principal from an accessory is whether the defendant independently contributed to causing the actus reus rather than merely giving generalised and/or limited help and encouragement.

In the United States, a person who learns of the crime and gives some form of assistance before the crime is committed is known as an "accessory before the fact". A person who learns of the crime after it is committed and helps the criminal to conceal it, or aids the criminal in escaping, or simply fails to report the crime, is known as an "accessory after the fact". A person who does both is sometimes referred to as an "accessory before and after the fact", but this usage is less common [bold emphasis added].

SO, if one is hired by a company (or country) and told to keep its unlawful, unconstitutional, fraudulent, or deceptive activities quiet (or perhaps even to carry them out), AND WE DO, what does that make us?

How many accessories and principals are out there in our beloved countries? Out there and afraid? Afraid to lose jobs? reputations? homes? loved ones? freedoms? perhaps their very lives?

Any déjà vu here?

Why have we begun to look so much like our former AND current enemies?

How about we have an international re-screening of Judgment at Nuremberg? How about doing it on September 28, the International Right to Know Day²? Or better yet, do it on September 29 and call it the International Responsibility to Know Day, since so many of us seem to prefer to NOT know those things that challenge our preconceptions of self and country?

Will we too, in some future year, when things have run their course down this slippery slope of suspicion, surveillance, and surreptitious “judgment,” hear some judge say to us:

The charge is that of conscious participation in a government-sanctioned system of cruelty and injustice in violation of every moral and legal principle known to all civilized nations. The tribunal has carefully studied the record and found therein abundant evidence to support beyond a reasonable doubt the charges against these defendants.³

------------------/
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessory_(legal_term)
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Right_to_Know_Day
3. From the screenplay, Judgment at Nuremberg.

Blissful Ignorance*

(*A tirade inspired by Salt, Sugar, [‘n] Fat)

Let us NOT count the ways we are addicted. It’s too depressing. Too déjà vu. Or so it seems for all the changes we don’t make in our lives when faced with massive evidence. Take for example, our addiction to ideas—such as competition, efficiency, capitalism, bottom-line, etc. as being the prime drivers of innovation and progress. And by progress, shouldn't we mean, that which advances mankind—not that which conspires to addict or enslave as seen in the old tobacco trials; and now again (yes, déjà vu again and again and again) in recent revelations about the processed-food industry? Take a look:

http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/TV+Shows/The+National/Health/ID/2341079476/ 

How much more advanced might we be if we cooperated for the benefit of mankind? Why are we still playing grade-school versions of “king-of-the-dirt-mound?” Haven’t we matured at all? Isn’t that what our CEOs are still up to: pushing and shoving for top-spot on the virtual mound at Wall Street? Pushing and shoving in two-piece pin-stripes? Pushing and shoving adulterated and faux foods down our blissful throats? Pushing and shoving “new and improved” electronics down our virtual throats so we feel driven to dump perfectly good ones into 3rd-world, unregulated waste sites? Pushing and shoving because we are so push-able and shove-able—abetted by Salt, Sugar, ‘n Fat?

And what of our esteemed scientists who have sold themselves for a mess of (processed, bliss-point) pottage?

Why are we so enamored by the big boys (and those few girls) who cudgel their way to the top by obsessing about the bottom-line? Those who buy up “competitors” to co-op or bury products and ideas, or to sell off thriving company assets for a quick profit (and bonus); or those who bypass the buy-up and resort to stealing, maligning, or killing ideas or products that threaten their ideas or products?

How long this blissful ignorance? How long before we recognize the catastrophic damage that our obsession with competition and bottom-line has wrought? How long till we understand that every beneficial progress could have been achieved faster and further by men and women who had matured past the stage of juvenile pushing and shoving? But alas! the powerful “haves” prefer competition. It is the plush curtain that hides the faux-wizard of their superiority and entitlement.

Duel of Abuse 2012 ~ Prologue

(Déjà vu characters from 424 BC ~ courtesy of ARISTOPHANES^[1] with some names slightly amended for clarity.)

[DIMISTHENES:] I will begin then. We have a very brutal master, a perfect glutton for bean[counting], and most bad-tempered; 'tis Demos of [DC], an intolerable old man and half deaf. The beginning of last month he bought a [sidekick], a … tanner [called, “Clecon”], an arrant rogue, the incarnation of calumny. This man of leather knows his old master thoroughly; he plays the fawning cur, flatters, cajoles; wheedles, and dupes him at will with little scraps of leavings, which he allows him to get. "Dear Demos," he will say, "try a single case and you will have done enough; then take your bath, eat, swallow and devour; here are three [more profit points]." Then [this Clecon] filches from one of us what we have prepared and makes a present of it to our old man. T'other day I had just kneaded a Spartan cake …; the cunning rogue came behind my back, sneaked it and offered the cake, which was my invention, in his own name. He keeps us at a distance and suffers none but himself to wait upon the master; when Demos is dining, he keeps close to his side with a thong in his hand and puts the orators to flight. He keeps singing oracles to him, so that the old man now thinks of nothing but the [futures]. Then, when he sees him thoroughly obfuscated, he uses all his cunning and piles up lies and calumnies against the household; then we are scourged and [Clecon] runs about among the slaves to demand contributions with threats and gathers 'em in with both hands. He will say, "You see how I have had [upstarts] beaten! Either content me or die at once!" We are forced to give, for else the old man tramples on us and makes us spew forth all our body contains. There must be an end to it, friend. Let us see! what can be done? Who will get us out of this mess?

[2012 Study Questions: Who/What is Dimisthenes? Who/What is Demos? Who/What is Clecon? Hint: perhaps begin with the recent Republican primaries; and/or economic theories.]

 ----------------------/

[1] “Duel of Abuse” comes from p. 14 (CHORUS) of Aristophanes' (circa 444 –385 BC)  play, “The Knights,” from The Eleven Comedies, Volume 1, Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition, 2005-08-01. The text of this post is from p. 4 with a 2012 update by SMS.

“The Great Chain of Being” [Subservient]

~
If ever there were a clear case of ubiquitous déjà vu, it is The Great Chain of Being Subservient. Not in the sense of being subject to authority for the maintenance of social order balanced with individual liberty, but in the subjugation of one’s life, gifts, talents, and yearnings for the sake of money—whether for one’s own gain (or survival) or for the gain of an employer or master.

History has seen men, women, and children cycle through soul-crushing subjugations to every type of master—with reforms and revolutions mostly just empowering some new over-lord.

We pretend The Great Chain (vis-à-vis humans) was broken with democratic and industrial revolutions yet we seem to have merely extended the reach of a harsh, unmerciful over-lord—debt. An over-lord, extant from ages past, loved by the market-place, oft fed by inadequate wages, and now bloated with manufactured desires.

Why do we, too often, sacrifice gifts, talents, dreams, soul, and integrity to over-lords like debt, pay-checks, perks, bonuses, loyalties, prestige, possessions, security, etc.? Perhaps the chief cause is Fear, as in “What will become of me if I leave my soul-depleting employment?” How long before oppressions and stress manifest in mental illness?¹ Can one prosper in doing what nourishes the soul?

Haven’t we endured long enough the dogmas of competitive capitalism? Don’t we have enough evidence that cooperative capitalism is the more sure means to widespread prosperity and to the pursuit of happiness for the majority? Why is our excess (if we have any) locked in investment reserves (managed by financiers) instead of “kick starting”² projects WE deem worthy?

Thankfully, more and more activists are challenging the discredited ideologies of omniscient markets and global glorifications. Until we reject the false extremes of “free-market competition,” self-interest, and profit-primacy, The Great Chain of Being Subservient will persist in its various manifestations from the most elite HyPEs (Highy Paid Employees) to the working poor to the involuntary unemployed.

----------------/
1. http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2011/12/20/the-high-cost-of-workplace-mental-health/
2. http://www.kickstarter.com/

See also http://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2009/12/lucky-you-lucky-them.html

Thoughts sparked in part from studying The Great Courses “Foundations of Western Civilization II: A History of the Modern Western World,” with Professor Robert Bucholz; from David C. Korten books; and from Yes! magazine.

National Finals

~
A short, multiple-choice exam for Nations, their presidents, prime ministers, kings, rulers, magistrates, electees, appointees, dictators, usurpers, etc., AND their lawyers, advisers, employees, go-fers, and sycophants. Examinees have 7 options:

A= YES
B= NO
C= Maybe
D= I don’t remember
E= I take the American Fifth
F= I’d rather go-to-hell than tell (Caveat emptor: this may constitute a technical redundancy.)
X= My employer made me^[1]

PLEASE ANSWER HONESTLY—even if it goes against your nature!

Have you EVER:

1. lied? __________
2. taken a bribe? __________
3. deliberately destroyed important documents? __________
4. favored a financial donor’s agenda? __________
5. misused government revenues? __________
6. abused others from a position of power/prestige? __________
7. turned a blind eye to the crimes of “friends” or colleagues? __________
8. interfered in a judicial case? __________
9. twisted/manipulated facts, statistics, text, pictures, videos, etc. __________
10. succumbed to insider trading? __________
11. ignored/denied a conflict of interest? __________
12. mis-/discounted/manipulated election results? __________
13. broken any law for personal, family, or collegial benefit? __________
14. deliberately dropped a bomb on civilians? __________
15. deliberately dropped an A or H bomb? __________
16. injured or killed innocent people and called it collateral damage? __________
17. instigated/fomented rebellion against elected officials in other nations? __________
18. believed you were appointed by God to micro-manage the people? __________
19. played the harlot (in déjà vu of Ezekiel 16:28^[2])? __________
20. told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? __________

-------------------------/
[1] In this case, please read

http://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2009/07/to-loyalists-everywhere.html
http://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2010/01/proliferation-of-masters.html
http://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2010/01/vc-beware-spokesman.html

[2] Old Testament Ezekiel 16:28: Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians [et al.], because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied.

Econ 010 ~ Then & Now

(Tea Party 1 : Tea Party 2)

To the offended: You may be adamantly against the recent stimulus packages and bailouts of Big Business (as proffered by GWB and BHO), but if you are a laissez-faire capitalist or corporate libertarian, you are a porter for economic tyranny (as in T-Party) whether you admit it or not. Why? Because that is the inevitable evolution of BOTH the far-right and the far-left as diagramed at http://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2011/05/econ-011-right-stuff-or-not.html and http://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2009/09/are-we-there-yet-at-t-point.html . Warning voices abound everywhere.

Free Agents, One and All !

Corporations—those bastions of hierarchy, planned economy, command-and-control, short-term rationalizing, meritorious disparity, creative accounting, externalized costs/internalized profits, and enforced consensus—ARE emphatically (you will be pleased to know) none of the above. They have changed. Transformed completely. They now believe in transparency, in democracy, and in YOU, the free consumer. YOU dictate what they produce (via China, et al.). YOU (and YOUR capital) choose what and how they market; how much mark-up is tolerable; how green is their logo.

They listen to YOU—the freely choosing, fully informed, free agents of expanding markets. YOU are the amazing, active rebels against the previous status quo, against the domineering elitism of old-style corporatism, now discredited in epiphanies of power in the people. But as they say (though who they “is” is often difficult to trace beyond the initial “sayer,” but nonetheless, THEY say) that the vacuum created by their mass exodus into democracy (from domination) is now crammed with a menagerie of “bad progressives,” and other like-minded domineering elitists, as in (liberal) journalists, academics, professionals, and critics/skeptics of any stripe who question the new, improved economy and enhanced democracy.

But YOU, the real people, are not deceived. Astutes (even juristic, fictional ones) can see the light (at the end of the train tunnel) and change (directions). Corporations have. They now believe in diversity, not conformity. Every culture, every life choice and voice, fashion and flutter, idea and incentive has equal validity¹ (and market potential!). All because of you.

That’s why supermalls are each unique; or, in the alternative—not so much—but only because YOU (WE, the people) want access to sameness.

That’s why McDonald’s, Starbucks, Yum! Brands, Nike, Tom Cruise, Haliburton, Exxon, GE, Xe,² et al. are found in nigh every nation (for your convenience, pleasure, comfort, and safety).

That’s why MS Windows^™OS is the preferred (though frequently the ONLY) choice of savvy (or not), satisfied (or not) new and old customers.

That’s why the New Corporations rush to acquire fresh (and competing) technologies, innovations, and broadcast/media licenses—to ensure YOU have the best of their choices.

That’s why they study and research YOU (your babies, tweens, and teens) (covertly of course, so as not to infringe upon your freedoms, agency, and privacy) in order to brand and deliver what YOU (and your loved ones) want—synchronized precisely with your awareness of want.

That’s why your favorite ______ (you name it) has suddenly vanished into the marketplace ether because THEY have sensed coming trends and efficiently synchronized their future with yours.

That’s why there are infinite versions of “new and improved” and why tech-support for the past becomes so rapidly passé.

That’s why escalating fees for service, support, early cancellation, late payment, refinancing, and risk are so ubiquitous and justified, because YOU have chosen to be held accountable for the costs you exacerbate for beneficent market collectives.

That’s why radio stations give local news and weather at the bottom of every hour, bi-monthly (unless pre-empted by commercial), and why it is so easy to be well-informed about local issues, elections, and politicians.

That’s why Hollywood, at the far edge of a nation of believers, keeps the name of God alive in its stimulating, cathartic movies and upon the lips of its stars and CEOs, for truly, the star-crossed maxim is, “Even profane press is better than no press!”

That’s why YOU wisely despise government—that defunct people’s collective—because it has repeatedly violated the checks-and-balances of its sacred Constitution and taxed YOU beyond endurance in changing its mission from “sheriff of the contract” to “sheriff of the common good” which is the sacred prerogative of the market’s invisible hand that was born to be free of external: checks and balances, criticism, oversight, accountability, and profit-taxing taxation.

That’s why labor has conceded the social and democratic injustices of collective bargaining, employee benefits, health insurance, job security, etc. because WE THE PEOPLE understand and support what is most advantageous to our well-being.

That’s why CEOs switch jobs (and presumably salaries and bank accounts) for trial periods with common-folk receptionists, clerks, chauffeurs, janitors, etc. to foster democratic empathy in the new democracy.

That’s why, as free agents, THE (astute) PEOPLE can be trusted to detect the smoke screens of insincerity, pretence, propaganda, hypocrisy, elitism, finger-pointing, power-plays/-grabs, and global agendas of the “bad progressives.” WE (with the ample aid of their "fair & balanced" research/reporting) can be vigilant critics and castigators of faux flips and real rip-offs.

SO, be comforted. The old-style, multinationals and behemoths—those unwieldy, inflexible, insensitive, obsessive, compulsive, conformist, inefficient, egoistic, domineering, distracted, and RAVENOUS creatures of the past—are gone. Replaced now by humble, amenable, serving, greener, slimmer global giants! [And since YOU asked, the golden scepter/cudgel has been retained only for amusing, museum display!]

[Giants, they say??!! Hhmmm! maybe, just maybe! there are more options than just meek belief/surrender!]

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1. Except of course for propagandized, duped dissenters, OR where “creative destruction,” of necessity, creates an improved, more just culture.
2. Formerly known as Blackwater

What …? If …? How …?

(“Private” reflections for Miltonites*)

What does one do when captured by a phrase? The phrase, “Our minds tell us, and history confirms …” comes from page 2 of Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom. He uses it to protest excessive government, and he is probably (mostly) right, BUT somehow, he seems entirely unconscious of the “private” side of what “Our minds tell us, and history confirms ….” With each of his critiques of the public sector, a private sector parallel rears its substantial, unacknowledged head. Consider:

If we must keep government “from becoming a [public] Frankenstein that will destroy the very freedom we establish it to protect,”¹ what of private Frankensteins? What of private sector employment contracts that limit speech, that require work on Holy Days, that deny freedom of association, that create master/servant relationships, that subsume “common traditions” and loyalties to employer demands, that command and control and centralize in pursuit of efficiency and profit; etc., etc.?

If “[o]ur minds tell us, and history confirms, that the great threat to freedom is the concentration of power,”¹ why should we blindly, passively trust the self-regulating free-market that inexorably concentrates both wealth and power?

If two broad Constitutional principles have preserved our freedom despite repeated “violations in practice,”² might not the same principles to preserve freedom apply to the private sector and its violations: namely, limiting the size of market players and dispersing their power (but not their responsibility)?

How can we “insure that the private sector is a check on the powers of the governmental sector”³ when private sector money pursues and buys power and influence for self-interested agendas and curtails with impunity many of the fundamental freedoms as noted above?

If “[t]he preservation of freedom is the protective reason for limiting and decentralizing governmental power,”³ what about protecting freedom by limiting and decentralizing private economic power?

If “[t]he great advances of civilization … have never come from centralized government … or … in response to governmental directives”⁴ are those advances attributable to competitive capitalism or in spite of competitive capitalism? Were any of Friedman’s named achievers⁴ motivated by competition, efficiency, and profit, or were they impassioned by gifts, inspirations, and altruism?

If “[g]overnment can never duplicate the variety and diversity of individual action,”⁴ can competitive, corporate capitalism do so? Are not uniformity, standardization, conformity, stagnation, and mediocrity⁴also characteristic of most oversized “competitive” corporations? Where does most innovation come from—born from the head of a Zeus-corp or born in some obscure garage by real individuals?

If “freedom [is] the ultimate goal and the individual [is] the ultimate entity in society,”⁵ why is competitive capitalism chiefly built on the collective model with command and control centralized in top-down dictatorships of master/servant relationships? And does the legal-fiction that calls a corporate collective, an “individual with individual rights” really convince us that competitive capitalism based on such a fiction is the defending champion of freedom and individualism?

If “[a]ny system [i.e., Federal Reserve System] which gives so much power and so much discretion to a few men that mistakes—excusable or not—can have such far-reaching effects is a bad system … because it gives a few men such power without any effective check by the body politic,” what about the private and financial sector’s deregulation passion begun in the 1980s that “disperse[d] responsibility yet [gave] a few men great power,” without effective check?⁶

If the U.S. government’s “abrogation of the gold clauses [in the 1930s] was a measure destructive of the basic principles of free enterprise” by declaring contracts “invalid for the benefit of one of the parties!” what of private sector corporate restructuring which does the same?⁷

How are we going to get beyond entrenched fallacious theories, one-eyed analyses, justifications, and myths and manias of the “free-market” until we honestly consider what “our minds tell us, and history confirms …” about BOTH the public and private (corporate dominated) sectors? If collectivism is really masquerading in capitalistic, individualist clothing, do we have a free-market or just the pretence of one?

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*All page references below refer to Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom (Fortieth Anniversary Edition) The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, © 1962, 1982, 2002
1. p. 2
2. pp. 2-3
3. p. 3
4. pp. 3-4
5. p. 5
6. p. 50
7. p. 60

Technology: Servant or Master?

Technology as servant can and does bless the world in numerous ways. Technology as master is another story. Consider:

▪ reams of paper that computer printers spew into scrap bins in endless pursuit of the perfect document;
▪ WALL•E¹ landscapes of electronic scrap trashed in pursuit of the latest, greatest;
▪ electronic-sitters that are too overwhelmingly convenient for the health and wellbeing of rising generations;
▪ escalating production of surplus goods worldwide (and far beyond global demand) "because we can";²
▪ connections to worlds that disconnect us from time, place, values, and the company of others. Witness:

▫ surreptitious texting during sermons, lectures, entertainments, conversations, work, driving, etc.;
▫ abrupt interruptions to conversations, meetings, work, life, leisure, the pursuit of happiness, etc. to answer the personalized jangle of omnipresent cell-mates and me-phones;
▫ escapism in “pleasant pictures” or “sham battles” from the realities of life and “The Habits of Highly Effective People”;³
▫ surfing into a surfeit of conflicting information/opinion;⁴
▫ hours of gaming where spouses, children, time and God take a backseat to the labyrinth;
▫ electronic love-affairs disaffecting the family affection;
▫ porno-plagues and incivility exploding within anonymity;
▫ proliferation of “precision Predators” and discounting of “collateral damage”;
▫ micro-manipulations of timing and insider information to capture macro-profits;
▫ dining, driving, deliberating, and dying (and doing it all) while distracted;
▫ and so forth.

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1. Pixar’s 2008 movie
2.One of the under-acknowledged crises of the global economy
3. Reference Stephen R. Covey’s “Seven Habits” and “Eighth Habit”
4. “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (New Testament 2 Timothy 3:7)

A Proliferation of Masters

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (New Testament Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13, “No servant …”)

These words were spoken nigh 2,000 years ago, and perhaps never before in history, till our day, have more people been attempting to do this very thing—to serve two (or more) masters. I do not speak in main of the ageless dilemmas that have burdened servants and employees,* such as:

▪ Do I say or do things on behalf of my employer that violate my personal integrity and moral values?
▪ Do I have to work on my Holy Day to keep (or get) my job, or to avoid being an inconvenience to my fellow employees or bosses?
▪ Do my employer’s business practices to which I contribute through my time and energies violate my sense of fairness and justice?
▪ Do I turn a blind eye to right and wrong because I need/want that pay-cheque?
▪ Do I tolerate personal injustices and abuses for the sake of employment?
▪ Have I taken employment that offends my spirit and purpose in life for the compensation and amenities because I fear, “What will become of me?” if I don’t or for the mere fact that the pay and benefits were better than an alternative that would have nourished by soul?
▪ Etc., etc.

Employees have always been at risk for such conflicts of interest. But, in today’s world, at least four other masters have become so pervasive, there is scarce a living soul that is not juggling at least two—not to mention comparable pressures on companies and even nations!

Consider—
Master Two as mammon through debt.

What does debt impel us to do? Have any of the Ten Commandments or other moral imperatives given way to the stresses of debt? What can debt cause us to put at risk or lose? Home, family, friends, integrity, compassion, security, peace of mind, trust in God? What would our answers be to the bulleted questions above were we to substitute “debt” for “employer”?

As well, how many companies have succumbed to debt? How many nations have compromised their sovereignty on account of it? Bartered away the wellbeing of their citizens?

Consider—
Master Three as mammon through the desire for power or fame.

What do government officials or private business leaders do, refrain from doing, consent to, deny, and so forth, for the sake of gifts, donations, assurances, alliances, perks, privileges, re-election, reappointment, etc.? What do the powerful and famous do to retain power and fame? Has the achievement of them ever been a personal temptation? Have we become so inured to the status quo of mammon in our politics, business, entertainment, sports, and even religion, that we discount the servitude and consequent devastations to our democratic, creative, spiritual, and moral values?

Consider—
Master Four as the mammon of investment pursuits.

In this day of increasingly unregulated finance capital, how many persons or fund managers buy shares, stocks, bonds, financial instruments, etc. without the slightest regard for anything but maximized returns? This Master is perhaps the most subversive of all, because as owner of the investment, we appear to be the master, when in reality, the “pursuit of profit” becomes the Master. We take the “three monkey” stance of refusing to see, hear, or speak evil of how our money is employed to build upon itself. We profess to be good Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Confucians, or other moralists, yet do we “innocently” invest our surplus or leveraged capital in plans and programs that violate our beliefs?

How much public good have we sacrificed for private gain? How many public and private costs have our investment strategies shunted to public accounts to increase the bottom line? How informed are we about the ways and means of our investment portfolios? Do we prefer not to know?

Consider—
Master Five as the mammon of ideology.

How many of us are so fixated on some idea, person, or thing that perceived “good” ends claim to justify foul means? So convinced or zealous we won’t consider further facts or contradicting witnesses? How many of our politicians bow to the party line knowing they are harming their constituents and their country? Must others obey law, use common sense, be reasonable and conciliatory, while we can be excused through rightness or rank? Do our wills and insights supersede all other wills and insights? Do we discard moral strictures to promote or protect our ideology?

Consider—
Who and what are the masters in your life?

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*(including, maybe especially, latter-day CEOs, CFOs, CAOs, etc.)