Hoovervilles

I’m ok now. It took getting old before my time and being declared permanently and totally disabled with bad heart problems...and the existence of “safety nets” called disability and Medicare and Medicaid and Food Stamps, but I’m ok. I have enough food. I have a place to live...a little up from being in a “Hooverville” but alright. I can go to docs and get meds. And like the line from the song says, “I get by with a little help from my friends” to whom I am deeply grateful. I don’t have it as bad as the homeless, or the severely hungry, though watching the Food Stamps be decreased and the food prices continually increase, I don’t know how long that may last. I am as lucky as I am, primarily because of dumb luck...it damn sure was not due to the decades of working my ass off.

You ever heard of a “Hooverwille”? If not you should know more about your history. During the Great Depression there were thousands of people all over the country in “shantytowns” because they had nowhere to go, often because they had been evicted because they had no money to pay rent. These shantytowns were called “Hoovervilles” by many because many blamed the president at the time, Herbert Hoover, for doing nothing at all to help people who had nothing, especially after the stock market crash of '29 which happened only eight months before he became president. He seemed to willfully disbelieve that things were that bad in the country and, like many politicians today, if things were that bad, it was only because people were lazy bums wanting handouts. There were no “safety nets” at that time...no Social Security, no unemployment benefits, no Food Stamps, no Medicare or Medicaid. Many historians agree that if this condition had not been remedied somewhat by the next president Franklin Roosevelt, there would have been a major revolution in this country.

Some politicians today, mostly Republicans but not all, say those things...it would be a huge disservice to poor people to continue their unemployment payments or Food Stamps or Medicare, et al. It is hardly only the politicians though. I will never understand the mentality - if you can call it that - of people who themselves are very poor, who have tried for months or even years to get a job and cannot, but who agree with those politicians. There are always some people who seem downright gleeful at the misery and suffering of the poor, and feel nothing for them except maybe pure hatred. Case in point: State Representative Tom Brower of Hawaii who has literally, personally taken a sledgehammer and destroyed the meager possessions of homeless people...an act which would gotten most other people arrested. He expresses his hatred for the poor and homeless. No, he’s not a Republican but a Democrat.

There may not be quit as many as there were then, but there are plenty of “Hoovervilles” all over the USA as you read this. And “around the world close to one billion people live in informal settlements or “slums.” By some estimates that population is expected to double by 2030." Source. In the '20s people came from all over the country to Detroit because they had heard that Henry Ford paid the huge sum of five dollars a day for workers. He did, for a while, and that was more than most regular jobs, but some did not realize that this job meant hard labor for 10-12 hours a day at least six days a week and there were NO breaks for food, drink, toilet or anything else without the permission of a supervisor...otherwise you were on the street again. One black man in one of the videos I watched, who lived at the time, said you could get a huge chunk of bacon, maybe a foot square or more, for something like 19 cents. You could get a 24-pound sack of flour for 19 cents. But, he asked, where you gonna get the 29 cents?

About 35 years or so after the five dollar a day at Ford, I knew first hand from direct personal experience about the five dollars a day...if you were lucky. Mine was not in a factory but cotton fields, and of course I could never make that much money because I was a little boy then. A strong man in an abundant field might manage to get $5 a day...by picking five hundred pounds of cotton. It’s been around fifty years since I did that. I didn’t fully understand then...but I would never wish that on anyone...except the billionares.

TRB

Beard

Beard For a time I sawed and scraped
away parts of myself to swirl
away and down the drain for
fear of feeling social pain
at being somewhat natural.

Slip of hand, sting of steel
another flow of crimson red
and it came into my head
of all the things to be feared
was surely not just a beard. -TRB

Therefore I must get some wine...

Therefore I must get some wine... “The abuse of buying and selling votes crept in and money began to play an important part in determining elections. Later on, this process of corruption spread in the law courts and to the army, and finally,...” This is part of a quote I found in a Bill Moyers piece I just read. I left off the rest of it because it might date the quote a little. It is a quote from Plutarch, a man who lived in Rome just after the supposed time of Jesus. The point is to show that this so-called ‘class warfare’ we are in the midst of now, especially in America, is nothing new. It has been here for at least about two thousand years and likely much longer. The rest of the quote is... “...when even the sword became enslaved by the power of gold, the republic was subjected to the rule of emperors.” It is has been called a political lobbying group) Citizens United . This ruling established, in simple terms, that “corporations are people" for the political purpose of shoveling huge amounts of money into political campaigns...part of what Plutarch called “the abuse of buying and selling votes”. It probably is not too surprising to the more politically astute that such has been going on in our country for quite some time, but it was usually referred to, if referred to at all, as shady dealings in smoke filled rooms. The court ruling essentially eliminated any need for secrecy as far as the buying and selling of votes was concerned. It is now perfectly legal, because the highest court in the land said so, to buy and sell all the votes you want. Therefore it should hardly be surprising that many of the billionaires and huge corporations quite literally run the country. They can dictate what the vote shall be on most legal matters of concern to them, and there are even documented instance of corporations literally writing the bills to be ‘voted on’ by Congress. One of the major differences between the times and places in the past where the rich have ruled the peasants with an iron fist is technology. The ability to literally transfer any amount of money to any all places on the globe within seconds is a fact...that will not go away short of a major catastrophe. Global corporations are gradually (and at an increasing rate) merging with governments so that soon it will be silly to refer to those as two different things. There will absolutely be, at some point, a global government/corporation. It is as inevitable as sunrise...in my humble opinion. There is good news and bad news. This too shall pass...nothing, not even the universe, lasts forever. Perhaps more importantly, certainly more immediate, is that YOU too shall pass. So....which is the good and which is the bad? TRB 3 Here’s what is so bad about everything that happens on this earth. Death catches up with all of us. Also, the hearts of people are full of evil. They live in foolish pleasure. After that, they join those who have already died. 4 Anyone who is living still has hope. Even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! 5 People who are still alive know they’ll die. But those who have died don’t know anything. They don’t receive any more rewards. And they are soon forgotten. 6 Their love, hate and jealousy disappear. They will never share again in anything that happens on earth. 7 Go and enjoy your food. Be joyful as you drink your wine. Ecclesiates 9:3-7, (New International Readers Version)

Who, When and Where am I?

Personal log, stardate: Unknown. I find myself in what appears to be - what is claimed to be - early 21st century Earth. There are several indicators which support this, but then nearly everything now seems to be in question. Perfunctory research suggests that much of what is...or had been...known to me, is viewed as fiction in this period. The materials I find here indicate that the stardate system either did not begin until more than a century from ‘now’, or that the dating system and many other things I thought I knew are entirely fictional, even including the Q and the Continuum. But then this period itself may be fictional. A snippet from an Earth writer called Shakespeare comes to mind: All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts,... Even Klingons have been known to quote Shakespeare.

I wondered if some computers here insert bits of information in one’s ‘stream of thought’ to further the stream. Yet computers here seem annoyingly primitive, as do many other things I find here. The computer I’m using now has such a tiny processing and storage capacity...I cannot use it at all except with manual input devices. But I suppose it is better than the time of Shakespeare who apparently was restricted paper, ink and the feather of a bird (shudder).

I have begun to question whether anything I have ever known in my life is truth or fiction. I cannot even specify a reliable ‘earthdate’ at this point because the date depends on which system one uses: Is this the year of the rat, of the dragon, of the monkey, etc. But those are parts of a much larger system. In what is called “the West” here, there was the Julian calendar, superceded by the Gregorian, which I am now supposed to use and which seems to be the standard for this planet at this time, though several other calendars exist and are used in various places. This Gregorian seems to be based on some amalgam of much older pagan deities, a “Christian” deity, and some degree of local astronomy, based on this planet’s moon and star, known as 'Sol’ or 'the Sun’. The current earth year is said to be 2013, but this is based completely on the supposed birth of the central character in the currently dominate religion here known as Christianity, and has nothing whatever to do with the actual age of the planet, though many here do know the age of the planet with a good degree of certainty.

It is often difficult or impossible to determine correct information on some things. I thought I had found a reference work on stardates but, as with many things here, it was not as I thought. This one seems to have reasonably accurate astronomical information, at least as viewed from this point, but I see nothing about the stardate system. The place with the most information about that is inconsistent with other claimed information, and also claims the entire enterprise is a fiction. It is called Memory Alpha which would suggest that it was written by someone at a later time than the time period mentioned. Can one have “memories” of the future or of things that never existed but in fiction or dreams? Am I somehow stuck in a holodeck program which I do not remember entering? Even here, claims of both fiction and fact.

Even my own name has become suspect. As unusual as it is the only references to Temy I find that do not refer to me seem to refer to females, often Asian; a rather disconcerting claim. Perhaps all of life for everyone everywhere in all times is only an illusion. I am tired now so I will try to rest.

TRB

Imagine That!

Now they tell me
we’ve had a coop de tat
Imagine that
Like I didn’t already know

Now they tell me
genes make you fat
Imagine that
Like I didn’t already know

Then they’ll tell me
Don’t eat yellow snow
Imagine that
Like I didn’t already know

Oh...

Now they tell me
It’s raining glass
Holy shat!
Naw, I didn’t already know.

TRB

Daffynitions

daffynitions Almost since humans have been humans there have been some referred to as servants. Logically, the ones they were servants FOR were masters. Again, logically, the masters had more of just about everything, certainly power, and the servants were to follow the orders or instructions of their masters. (They even built entire social constructs around the idea, called ‘religions’.) That is basically the whole POINT of having servants. Eventually there came a time when a different kind of ‘servant’ came to exist, and when this happened, it turned the entire master/servant relationship on its head; now the ‘servants’ with ‘public’ in front of the ‘servant’ became the ones who gave the orders or instructions and the ‘masters’ were expected to be obedient. The strangest thing was that the former ‘masters’ seemed too dumb to realize that this shift had occurred, and they went right on calling themselves the masters, even as the ‘servants’ became very rich...much richer than the ‘masters’ for the most part, and some ‘servants’ came to be called lawmakers. Imagine that.There were a few of the former masters who had some inkling of what had happened but it was much too late...the ‘servants’ were the ‘masters’.

Eventually the ‘servants’ became almost the entire ‘ruling class’ and virtually none of the ‘masters’ had any actual power; though they were deluded into thinking that they were still the masters with such silly ideas as ‘votes’. For a very long time, money has been the ultimate arbiter of power among humans; generally, ‘he who has the gold makes the rules’. Consider that as a percentage, about 48% of the ‘servants’ (in Congress), have more than one million dollars...while 0.97769% of ‘us’, i.e. masters, have more than one million dollars. Srsly? Who are the masters again? Remember this refers only to Congress; there’s also the Executive Branch, the Judicial Branch, and then mini-me’s of them all on lower levels.

There is also one other group whose numbers are tiny but whose power is vast. To be fair, almost none of them even claim to be ‘servants’, which makes them slightly more honest than those who do claim to be servants. This group is sometimes now called “the one percent”. Of course they are the true masters because if one has enough money one controls not mere politics but every other aspect of the human condition as well. They sit upon a metaphorical Mount Olympus and play their games among themselves; the planet is their board game; nations are simply “playing areas” on the board. Individuals, most of whom still amusingly think themselves ‘masters’ are miniscule, barely noticeable ‘pawns’ on the board and none of the players gives the slightest whit when millions or tens of millions of these ‘pawns’ vanish...they are a self-replicating lot and there will always be an abundance of them to fill the board.

A few of the dust grain ‘pawns’ wonder how long it will be until the masters tire of using them as part of the game. After all, these pawns CAN be irritating at times because they sometimes cos players money in order to keep them in play or move them as desired. Perhaps the players will soon tire of such problems and replace the biological pawns with things that are called AI and robots, which will be far more durable and compliant. Unless we vote against it....HAhahahHHHahahha.

TRB

Smile...it'll all be over soon.

I think this country is in trouble. That’s hardly a new thing though; many others have thought it in trouble for many decades and for very different reasons. This is not “about” the Zimmerman trial; I mention it only as the most recent example of what I mean. I think that most people think that if only he or she could see or know the evidence they would agree with me. Tain’t necessarily so, though. Most people can see exactly the same pieces of information but come to completely opposite conclusions about it and what it means.

I have no problem with disagreements; of course I wish I could convince others to agree with me, but if they don’t they don’t and I accept that. What I don’t find acceptable at all, is people becoming so incredibly emotional about a thing that they resort to name calling, losing friendships, or even physical violence. Here’s what I mean, re the Zimmerman thing. I completely agree with the verdict and I see no evidence at all that Zimmerman committed any crime at all. Some of my friends come to the opposite conclusion, I grant, based on their own reasonable understanding or interpretation of the questions at hand. Then there are other people, a friend or two, several acquaintances, whose virulent emotionalism causes them to delete me, call me terrible names, etc. One example:

I know nothing at all about the atheist blogger Greta Christina except from reading pieces she has posted and a video or two. I have sometimes commented on those, I think always positively, certainly not ever in any negative way. Surely she knows even less of me (not that she should know me) and yet, upon reading in some thread that I didn’t see where Zimmerman was wrong, she said, “You are a moral monster. Get out of my life”. *sigh* That kind of thing is very trying and very tiring...not to mention completely false and uncalled for. So okay, the worst thing that has happened to me regarding that is being called names and being deleted. Some other people have had much worse things happen to them.

Of course I know that the lynch mob mentality is hardly new and it surprises me that it surprises me...but it does. I also get called a racist scumbag among other jewels by people who don’t know me and I think that some of them, even if they knew me well, would still do that if I disagreed with them on something like this. It’s not like the only people who agree with the verdict are the KKK. Is Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz a racist Jew scumbag because he also agrees with the verdict? Is Charles Barkley a racist because he agrees with the verdict? No, he’s just an ignorant Uncle Tom. Are all black people who support Zimmerman stupid race traitors?

Remember ‘the trial of the century’ and how that came out and how so many white people rioted against an obviously unjust verdict?

This should give you some idea of how mainstream media plays the masses. If people (especially black people) really were interested in justice, then where are the protests against an absurdly unjust sentence against a woman who fired a gun in self defense but hit no one and ended up sentenced to 20 years in prison for that? This case has nothing whatever to do with the Zimmerman trial, though many people try to make it so. I have no idea whether there were any racial issues involved in the Alexander case, but either way, it’s a ridiculous sentence which should not stand. It made a few headlines..no biggie. Why not? I don't think the news people saw anything really 'juicy' in it; nothing to stir the masses to violence.

I do find it a bit disheartening that most if not all the support for Zimmerman has come from the conservatives...if you happen to know of a liberal anywhere (besides me) who supports the verdict please let me know. Anyone who knows me at all knows I am way more of a libtard than a conservatard, so whassup? I totally support the libtards on things like abortion rights, gay marriage, etc. I think it’s reprehensible that so many Republican/conservatives seem so determined to get all up in peoples’ personal private lives on those two things. I think it’s just as reprehensible that so many Democrats/liberals want to get all up in peoples’ lives about what words they are allowed to say, whether they can own a gun, etc. I find it reprehensible that Libertariantards don’t think they have any responsibility to society to share the wealth and take care of the poor.

Will there ever be ‘racial harmony’ on a large scale? No, of course not...it is not in the human genome. Will there ever be equality between the rich and the poor? Same answer. Birds of a feather flock together.

Is there ever any escape from all this? Yup: Ecclesiastes 9:5,6. 5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

Sweet dreams...while you can. :)

TRB