It is not just a matter of whether a person produces or not. If that was
the case I would have some pretty harsh words for the poor fellow in the
unemployment line. The problem is with how certain nonproducers maintain
their nonproductive lives. People who do produce, people who work really
hard, provide the profit for the owners who do no labor at all, but use
all of that profit to control the lives of the people who do the work.
More than that, those profits represent stolen wealth. The producers add
their labor to nature to create value. The value is the measure of how
much their labor is worth. But they do not get the full value of their
labor back to them. Part of the value of their labor is stolen from them
and called profit and it is appropriated by those nonproducing owners
who do nothing but own and control others. That is incredibly unfair.
Yet, as Carl described, so many of the workers who are being robbed on a
daily basis think they should thank the very people who robbed them for
giving them jobs. Tjhat is such an incredible scam!
On 6/30/2018 12:53 PM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
I think I'm having a problem with the idea that one has to produce something to be a worthwhile human being.
I suppose it depends on what you mean by, "produce". As technology becomes more complicated, more
and more tasks will be done by machines, artificial intelligence, etc. So we'll have people who ,
"produce", the ideas that make the technology possible. And then we'll have people doing jobs like
caring for children, the sick, and the elderly. If we can rid ourselves of factory farming, we can have
people actually growing food. But given climate change, I'm not sure what kind of food will be grown and
under what circumstances and how much human effort will be involved. Ideally, people will have a lot of time
to do things that they enjoy like sailing boats or painting or cooking or reading. Not just wealthy people,
but all people, and they won't be, "producing", anything.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Saturday, June 30, 2018 11:10 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: News of the day
A couple of thoughts on this rather lengthy string.
Richard raises the question as to how we can know anything for certain
regarding history that dates from the time Jesus lived. Well, if looking back
through the US history over the past 250 years is any indication, we are
viewing a long, changing series of Fairy Tales, based on Ancient Fairy Tales.
It's probably a good thing we do not have Time Travel.
And Roger makes a good observation, regarding the lack of productivity among
the Ruling Class.
Back in the Ancient Days of the mid 50's to the mid 60's, I worked for Bartmann and
Bixer, Inc. This was a drapery factory. About 120 employees. Each year during the
summer, Mister Bixer arrived in his private plane, chartered a trip into Canada to some
remote lake, and spent a week relaxing and fishing. Each year Mister Bixer
"toured"
his Seattle factory. This was one outlet in a national chain, headquartered in Passaic,
New Jersey. It was a quick walk through in which he greeted some of the department
managers by name and thanked them for doing such a good job running, "my
company".
Many of the factory workers crowded into the doorways and aisles to get a close look at
this great man. Several said they wanted to thank Mister Bixer personally for
"giving them a job".
After his tour, when we gathered in the break room for coffee, gossip abounded.
Stories of Mister Bixer's mansion and life style. Such stories were mostly
third hand accounts of imagined luxury. Even then, in my 20's, I told my
coworkers that I did not get satisfaction out of helping to make Mister Bixer
wealthy. To my thinking, he was nothing more than a useless drone. In the bee
hive, most drones are killed and pushed out of the hive. The worker bees do
not enjoy feeding and caring for those who are not productive.
Now, I don't mean to imply that Mister Bixer should suffer the same fate...
Carl Jarvis
On 6/29/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
OK.
I have a question about Jesus, however. If he actually existed, how do
we know anything about what he was really like and what he said? Could
he be just a symbol of human aspiration?
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2018 11:38 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: News of the day
Without going back and reading what I wrote, I thought I said that the
two Bushes, Kennedy and FDR were members of the Ruling Class.
And when I condemn "The Ruling Class", it is always with the
understanding that it is not each individual, but rather, it is the
collective abuse of the current Ruling Class. Here in America, the
Ruling Class is and has been from the day the ink was put on the Constitution,
White Male Landholders.
When I talk about, "The Working Class", I do not intend to suggest
that everyone who is within that category is hard working, honest,
caring and disadvantaged. What I see as the Working Class are those
people who are underwriting the goals of the Ruling Class, and
supporting their life style as well as defending their Right to be the
Ruling Class. But within the Working Class are a growing number of
people who no longer wish to do the bidding of the Ruling Class. When
that number grows it could well bring about the overthrow of the long
established Ruling Class. And so, the Ruling Class has gone about
protecting its position. The development of the Military/Industrial
Complex is the brain child of the Ruling Class, not that of the
Working Class. Control of the public media and of the Press is
another defense of the Ruling Class. Our Public Education is also a
control by the Ruling Class, even as the efforts are going forward toward
privatizing education.
Of course, human beings being such diverse creatures, there are many
good people scattered up and down our Class Structure. And by the
way, most of the "good" people are mixed bags. For example, I
consider myself to be a good person, a member of the Working Class,
critical of the government, critical of the long established Ruling
Class and its Colonialism, concerned that nations are becoming
subjugated to powerful international corporations, a strong believer
and supporter of Human Rights and human dignity, and yet I spent my
life working to "protect" the position of the Ruling Class. As I
said, I pay my taxes which go toward murdering innocent people around
the world, I worked for most of my life as a government employee,
supporting the Establishment that I criticized, and doing my best to care for
myself and my wife and our families above and beyond those of others.
Finally, I am well aware that it is Human Nature that turns a dominant
Group of People into an Oppressive, controlling Greedy, self serving
Master Race...like the American Empire.
Even those among us who understood that we need to find a way to
control our own Human Nature, people like Jesus, even Jesus became
entangled in the Human Web, mixing His philosophies into the religion
and the government of the day. And both religion and government
seized upon His teachings and corrupted them for their own use as a controlling
tool.
Even Jesus was a product of His world. Taken alone, His teachings are
powerful. But they must be modified and carefully controlled in order
to be of use to those wishing to continue in power.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/28/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Well first of all, FDR, Kennedy, and the 2 Bush's were members of the
ruling class, not wannabees.
Second: I don't want to shock you or anything. However, it is
conceivable that an individual who was born into a family that is
part of the ruling class, might be a really good, kind, moral human being.
I'm not saying that the people whom you mentioned were, but really,
to condemn every person who is born into a wealthy family is as
prejudiced and discriminatory as condemning all poor people by
assuming that they're all lazy or stupid.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2018 8:52 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: News of the day
In my lifetime I have not seen a single president who would serve as
an example to me. Even my great hero, when I was young, FDR.
All of these men served, to one degree or another, the Ruling Class.
Most of these men were not even of the Ruling Class. But oh how they
longed to belong. FDR, Kennedy and the Bushes would probably be
allowed in. But the rest? Pretenders. Lackeys. Shills!
My three heroes are unknown to most Americans. First, my dad, Clyde
Fletcher Jarvis; next, Al Fisher; and lastly, Paul Robeson. Men of
principle. Men who knew how to stand tall for the causes they
believed in.
If our species survives, it will be due to Jarvis, Fisher and Robeson
and many, many other unsung heroes, not the Trumps and Bushes or the
Clinton's and Obama's, who took their pieces of gold and bent to kiss
the hem of the Koch Brothers royal robes.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/27/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I read a really long article about Obama last night, about what he's
doing.
What he's doing is what he's always done, taking care of himself. I
may have already mentioned it on this list. So there are members of
his party who are very distressed with him because they feel that he
should be leading the "Resistance", doing more to fight what Trump
is doing. I find it interesting that the well known political figure
who is doing all he can to fight back, Is Bernie Sanders. He is
making speeches and introducing legislation. He visited Puerto Rico
after the hurricane. He made a statement about the Israelis shooting
the demonstrating Gazans. Obama played Golf with other rich people,
traveled to foreign countries, and has been making speeches for high
fees like $300,000. There's a podcast called, Reveal from The Center
For Investigative Reporting and PRX which I resubscribed to yesterday.
They did a report on immigration and I learned that under Obama,
families were also separated, nothing as drastic as what is
happening now, but it was happening. I was releaved that in the
report, they managed to make a gentle statement about how the
problems in South and Central America from which people are fleeing
to the US, are a result of US policy. It was comforting to know that
this is being said on podcasts other than those on the far left.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2018 7:32 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: News of the day
They say that it's always darkest before the dawn. But that bright
light is probably the end of civilization.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/27/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Justice Kennedy is retiring. Sometimes, he voted with the liberal
justices.
Now that he's retiring, Trump can appoint another right wing judge.
We already had 3 terrible supreme court rulings today, upholding
the Muslim ban, destroying union funding, and ruling against a
California law that required crisis pregnancy centers to tell
patients that abortion is available in California. The supreme
court will now have a
6 to 3 right wing majority.
If you can find a way to hear today's episode of Intercepted, you
should do so. It is the recording of the live show they did on June
21 with Sy Hersh and it's excellent.
However, Seymour Hersh confirmed my belief that we are now a
Fascist state, that it's impossible to impeach Trump, and that
Trump may very well win a second term.
Miraculously a very young, Puerta Rican social democratic female
with out big money, won the democratic primary in NYC against a ten
term well funded machine Democratic congressman.
Each day, I encounter evidence that my aging brain is becoming more
scrambled.
Miriam
