Just like Koch Work, more Fascist Decrees from the Koch Brothers (would you like Fries with that Fascism?)

You don't understand... We mean you no harm... We seek peaceful co-existence... - Star Trek: The Next Generation, Conspiracy

The Koch Brothers have a plan for 100% employment in the United States: Slavery!

No, no, no! Don't get all excited. Charles Koch took time away from telling Scott Walker what to do and not paying Taxes in Kansas to explain how paying Poor people money for their work is actually harming them;

We want to do a better job of raising up the disadvantaged and the poorest in this country, rather than saying ‘Oh, we’re just fine now.’ We’re not saying that at all. What we’re saying is, we need to analyze all these additional policies, these subsidies, this cronyism, this avalanche of regulations, all these things that are creating a culture of dependency. And like permitting, to start a business, in many cities, to drive a taxicab, to become a hairdresser. Anything that people with limited capital can do to raise themselves up, they keep throwing obstacles in their way. And so we’ve got to clear those out. Or the minimum wage. Or anything that reduces the mobility of labor.

See, it would be better if Businesses could pay people less or perhaps in "Company Scrip" while workers live in Company Towns buying their goods and services from the Company Store. Then workers need not worry about transportation costs or housing expenses! 

The patterns of the Corporate Fascist Takeover are so readily prevalent that McDonald's felt entirely releasing a report on how Workers can survive under McFascism.

The McDonald's Budget would be laughable if it wasn't for the tragedy facing millions of Americans living in Wage Slavery. McDonald's allocates $0 for food and $20 for monthly healthcare. And to make matters more grotesque after the 35 hours at minimum wage flipping burgers and mopping out toilets, McDonald's had to add an additional $1000 in income (presumably at your other Mickey D's minimum wage job) to make the budget work. Oh and by the way, while logging 70-80 hours a week smelling like a Big Mac you can't spend anything on child care.

The historic function of fascism is to smash the working class, destroy its organizations and stifle liberties when the capitalists find themselves unable to govern and dominate with the help of democratic machinery. - Leon Trotsky

The Koch Brothers are fascists. McDonald's Corporate Board is fascist. Wall Street is fascist. Their goals are to completely neuter any Unions, organizations, groups, regulations or laws which could challenge their Plutocratic Machinations. There is a plethora of evil in that comment by Charles Koch. Eliminate regulations, conflating the social safety net with cronyism, the doublespeak of enhancing "mobility of labor". And a banal disregard for people in McDonald's Practical Money Skills For Life pdf.

Right now the Plutocracy need not worry about the Working Class, because the wholly owned Republican Party and so-called Pro-Business Democrats, are dutifully fulfilling their role as their Handmaidens and Guard Dogs of the Rich.

The Federal Government and increasingly State Governments respond increasingly to the wants and whims of the Rich and only the Rich.

Wall Street and The Kochs aren't merely content with destroying Unions but with setting up a self-sustaining system in which the only people who pay taxes are the Middle and Working Class to fund, at first a dwindling Social Safety Nets, Arts, the EPA, until their Handmaidens successfully eliminate those programs and eventually all the taxes paid by the 99% are funneled as Corporate Welfare into the coffers of the Captains of Finance, Industry and the Military.

Update:
I forgot to add Jane Mayer's reporting in the New Yorker showing how Charles and David Koch subvert the "Democratic Machinery" in regards to Climate Change. While their Think Tanks, Oil Conglomerate and Coal Mine Owners spew endless streams of propaganda to confuse and befuddle people, The Koch Brothers have signed pledges from their Handmaidens in DC to which they have promised to vote against legislation relating to climate change unless it is accompanied by an equivalent amount of tax cuts.

The People's House doing the Work of Plutocrats...

Over at Green Eagle blogspot is a story of Legerdermain by Goldman Sachs and the shuffling of Aluminum ingots which shows how the Captains of Finance aren't "Creating" Anything but using chicanery to "make money"

George Zimmerman Acquitted due to Victim Blackness

 Better a Hundred Guilty Men should go Free than an Innocent One should go to jail. Well, George Zimmerman's just become One of a Hundred.

Zimmerman is guilty but, he's been acquitted because his victim is of no consequence. The facts surrounding this Killing show beyond a "reasonable doubt" that George Zimmerman is Guilty Second Degree Murder. Which is why Right-Wingers have been screaming into the Internet for a year and a half to get Zimmerman off.

Thus, they made the smearing and slandering of Trayvon Martin their Cause Celebre.

Martin's background has no bearing on the incidents surrounding the night of his murder. Setting aside the fact he committed no crime on his final night on earth, his past marijuana use and minor incidents at school were unknown that night to his killer and thus can not have played a role in Zimmerman's decision to ensure this one wasn't going to get away.

Zimmerman hadn't witnessed anything other than a "suspicious" young black male was walking around the neighborhood. What made Martin suspicious? There's a reason Towns used to have Signs which read: Ni[clang], Don't Let the Sun Set on Your Black Ass in Town. Walking while Black is still a crime in most of America.

In Law Enforcement paralance, Zimmerman is a "White Hispanic" just as he was refered to. While, Race is a bullshit construct designed to seperate people, Law Enforcement in most States still adhere to the Black/White/Hispanic/Asian paradigm. And Hispanic is broken into Black and White subgroups. You need not believe me, simply ask any Illinois Police Officer. But, notice how ignorant Right-Wingers jumped upon the label as Proof Positive! the Liberal Media was trying to railroad poor innocent Georgie.

George Zimmerman is 250+ pounds of soft bubble gum. His former MMA instructor could see it, testyfing he was "just physically soft" and "non-athletic". His girlfriend who accused Zimmerman of Domestic Violence, knew he was soft. The Police from multiple contacts with Georgie, his 46 calls to 911, and his arrest for Battery to a Police Officer no doubt knew he was soft. And soft, wide-waisted, flabby assed wannabes like Zimmerman need that Gun to Prove their tough.

And man, once you have that Gun on your hip, it's weight just screeeeeeeeams for the need to be pulled to prove yourself.

Beyond the blathering of Zimmerman's Defense Attorneys, "Martin armed himself with a sidewalk" for instance, repeatedly badgered Martin's mother to admit Trayvon was responsible for his own death.

Trayvon Martin was under no legal obligation to stop for Zimmerman or to explain his presence in the area to him. None. Trayvon was entirely within his rights to be in that neighborhood.

And the whole incident would have been over when Zimmerman told the Sanford Dispatcher , "Shit he's Running," if Zimmerman had chosen not to follow a young man who had committed No Crime. Zimmerman had no legal authority to follow or confront Martin. But, Zimmerman wasn't going this "asshole get away".

Bruce Lee, when asked what the Best Martial Arts move was, allegedly said; To Run.

Martin did the right thing by running at first but, (and we'll never know the unbiased true sequence of events) he must have decided he'd run long enough from this "creepy-ass cracker".

If there's a Stand Your Ground case to have been made it would have been for Martin. But, despite being within his rights Trayvon made what proved to be a fatal mistake. The entire defense of Zimmerman was based on portraying Trayvon, a young black man out at night in a hoodie as suspicious and complicit in his death. And they're right.

Zimmerman told the Sanford Dispatcher, "This guy looks like he's up to no good, or he's on drugs or something. It's raining and he's just walking around, looking about."

Of course, Zimmerman thought Trayvon Martin was "up to no good" and "on drugs". As he told Dispatch he's black. And this is America. Young Black Males are a priori assumed to be Guilty of something.

Zimmerman hadn't seen him commit a Burglary. Zimmerman hadn't looked at Martin's pupils and couldn't have gotten a whiff of anything while seated in his car with it raining outside to claim Martin was on drugs, other than knowing he was black. But when Martin ran as he knew he was one of those assholes who always got away and Zimmerman the Self-Appointed Watch Captain wasn't going to let this one get away.

Zimmerman admitted on the 911 call that he was following Martin. The Sanford Dispatcher is a Sworn Law Enforcement Officer, so yes she had the legal power to order Zimmerman not to follow Martin. Too bad she phrased her instruction to him as, "We don't need you to do that."

It's one reason my contacts with a possible perp always include Stop Police. Don't Move.

But, that doesn't matter now. Zimmerman's been acquitted, Martin's still dead, and Gun Violence rules the Land.

Stand with Rand! Stand with Rand! Stand with Rand! Dixieland!

Advance the flag of Dixie! Hurrah! Hurrah!

In Dixie's land we take our stand, and live or die for Dixie! - The Campaign Song of Rand Paul

So, as Rand Paul's intimate connection with Jack "The Southern Avenger" Hunter, an unabashed White Power Neo-Confederacy Racist, stays in the News Cycle. Rand is trying to figure out how to minimize the damage.

So, Rand hit upon the awesome explanation while being interviewed by Howard Fineman. The Confederate Flag is like Smoking Pot once! And "I've got a lot of people working for me"! And "can't people have a Youth and Stuff"! And "Wet- T-Shirt Contests"!

Now, if Paul meant the Confederate Flag was only fit for Burning then I agree with his Pot analogy but, we all know everything Rand Paul says is geared to ensure the Rand the Grifter keeps on Grifting.

You see Rand Paul is not interested in governing or creating a more perfect Union but in lining his pockets with money fleeced from duped and ignorant rubes. As such his "principled" Stand Against DroneZ or his much bally-hooed sojourn to Howard University to whitesplain the merits of the Republican Party and his nonsense explanations about the Southern Avenger are nothing more than gimmicks to keep the money flowing to his pockets.

It's just rotten luck for Rand Paul, just like his father, that these Neo-Confederate, white supremacists, StormFront affiliated racists keep finding their way into their inner circles? Jeez, staunch State's Rights Proponents just can't seem to catch a break!

Scott Walker, The Kochs and Wisconsin are the Vanguard of Fascism

Leading the Way towards Fascist America is Scott Walker the personal valet for the Koch Take Over of the Nation.

At the moment that the "normal" police and military resources of the bourgeois dictatorship, together with their parliamentary screens, no longer suffice to hold society in a state of equilibrium - the turn of the fascist regime arrives. - Leon Trotsky 27 Jan 1932.

Up in Northern Wisconsin, a mining company named Gogebic Taconite was approved by the Republican Wisconsin Legislature to engage in a massive mining operation which will devastate and befoul Lake Superior and the surrounding pristine Northwoods environment. Protests have been staged, so Gogenic Taconite hired Bulletproof Security to stalk the area in pseudo-military vehicles carrying semi-automatic rifles and wearing fully decked out camo uniforms.

Duped Conservatives and apologists for Corporate Malfesance defended the Walker and the Parliamentary Screens when they passed legislation which allowed Plutocrats to buy up Wisconsin's public utilities and public resources for whatever price the Plutocrats wanted as long as the Wisconsin Republican got a nice little kickback.

While everyone is focused on slimy Scott Walker's Independence Day Rape Wand Signature, and rightly so, the Corporate Overlords are ensuring they get to extract money, power, and resources from Wisconsin at rock bottom prices.

The Rich are interested in maximizing their profits, the Great Lakes be damned. Another Wisconsin/Michigan based company Lake Michigan Carferry uses the last coal-fired ship on the lake, the S.S. Badger which as it travels from its home port of Ludington, MI, to Manitowoc, WI, it dumps 509 tons of coal ash into Lake Michigan each year – a quantity greater than the total waste dumped annually by the 125 other largest ships operating on the Great Lakes.

“The S.S. Badger, the filthiest ship on the Great Lakes, has been given two more years to dump hundreds of tons of dangerous coal ash into Lake Michigan.  The millions of people who live, work and play in and around this beautiful Lake should be outraged that this filthy ship will continue to operate,” said Senator Dick Durbin.

But, Senator Durbin the Rich run the US Government. So the flithy owner of the S.S. Badger, Robert Manglitz, used his connections and legalese to bypass and ignore laws. Manglitz got the S.S. Badger originally a barge whose keel was laid in 1953 and was later refitted to transport cars, declared a "historical site" in both Michigan and Wisconsin.

Manglitz has called Coal Ash "Harmless Sand" though I doubt he's ever relaxed on a sunny beach made out of it.

Destroying the Teachers' Union was a step, eliminating Public Service Employees Collective Bargaining powers was a step, selling off public resources to whichever company gives the Corporate Owned Politicians was another step, allowing Companies which rape and despoil the environment, to field paramilitary squads threatening to gun down protesters while defending Corporate Crimes is another step.

The Koch Brothers like to style themselves Libertarians, but you can know them by their true name Fascists. Like their Plutocratic brethern on Wall Street, the Kochs have set up multiple avenues of attack to deter and confuse the American People from identifying their true enemy the Koch Brothers themselves and the Capitalist Bourgeoisie.

Through the fascist agency, capitalism sets in motion the masses of crazed petty bourgeoisie and bands of declassed and demoralized lumpenproletariat - all countless human beings whom finance capital itself has brought to desperation and frenzy. - Leon Trotsky, What is Fascism?

Wall Street, the Rich Plutocrats and the Banking and Finance Industry brought the economy to ruin through their legerdermain, degenerate gambling and rampant criminal theft and then turned around and blamed the Poor and Unions.

Then they unleashed their hordes of duped and battered conservative drones to blame other middle and working class peoples for the devastation wrought by the Banksters.

Exactly, as Trotsky wrote 80 years ago, The fascists find their human material mainly in the petty bourgeoisie.The latter has been entirely ruined by big capital. There is no way out for it in the present social order, but it knows of no other. Its dissatisfaction, indignation, and despair are diverted by the fascists away from big capital and against the workers.

Am I wrong about Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald?

Is the goal the elimination of the Military-Industrial-Surveillance State? Or is it something else?

Having attended the Socialism 2013 Conference (June 27-30 at the Crowne Plaza in Rosemont, Illinois) I was able to hear Glenn Greenwald, the Special Guest Speaker on the Friday Night closing Forum. Greenwald received near unamious support and acclaim from the crowd. I reserved my applause and declined to give him a standing ovation.

Of course, Greenwald's appearance was done via Skype as he is persona non grata in the States these days. But, he is also unwelcome by many liberals and Left Bloggers.

But, Jeremy Scahill was fervent in his praise and adulation towards Glenn Greenwald. In one of the sessions, Richard Seymour spoke of Greenwald's "Libertarian Marxism".

I'm conflicted about Greenwald. I aboslutely agree with him on the Subserveince of the Media. Greenwald related several ancedotal stories of David Gregory and the New York Times Editor-in-
Chief proudly proclaiming the Pentagon or some Governmental Spokesperson giving their official stamp of approval to the Reporting being done on them. The Modern Media are no longer journalists in any sense of the word, but are Stenographers for those in Power.

But, 3 days after speaking to group of Out-Right Marxists Glenn appeared on Fox & Friends and was approvingly interviewed by Eric Bolling, about the Obama Administrations intimidation of "whistleblowers".

"We were certainly safe between 2000 and 2008. I don't remember any terrorist attacks on American soil during that period of time." - Eric Bolling 

So this doesn't necessarily bolster Greenwald's credibility or my impression of the man's motives.

I think Greenwald's analysis of Snowden is for the most part correct. Edward Snowden isn't some egocentric fame-seeker (Glenn used the term Fame Whore) or doing this for monetary reward. But, his revelations aren't exactly ground breaking news if one were say aware of the 1992 movie Sneakers or had been paying attention during the George W. Bush Regime.

And that is what's troubling about Glenn's reporting and Snowden's revelations; Why did it take so long?

All of a sudden after 7 years of being a Sysadmin Spook Snowden chooses to become whistleblower? 13 years after the Patriot Act was signed Greenwald's worried about US Spying Operations?

Snowden and Greenwald were in contact before Snowden got his job with Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH). Snowden explicitly stated he went to work for the NSA-affiliated BAH in order to use their structure to access classified intel collected in part by the NSA and other organizations. His application to BAH isn't like the one page sheet you turn into McDonald's. So when did he hatch his plan to get a job with the contractor knowing their classified doc handling and SCIF security was not up to the same levels as the CIA and NSA. And would Snowden have done the same if Mitt Romney were now President?

Now, the interesting aspect of the NSA/Prism/Greenwald is it's shattering affect of the Left/Right paradigm. Which is always good because the It's Okay if Your a ____, is tedious and shows a lack of fiber for doing what is correct.

One of the recent allegations to be leveled at Snowden is according to Ars Technica, Snowden was a regular commentator since at least 2006, under the handle The True HOOHA.

His alleged online beliefs were firmly in support of spying, 'Those people should be shot in the balls' and against Leakers, 'They’re like wikileaks. You don’t put that shit in the NEWSPAPER.' The True HOOHA also was a firm believer in pushing young IT adept and Server Savvy people into working for the computer/intelligence side of the MIC, "Thank God for wars."

Why did those beliefs change? I don't automatically conclude that Snowden is lying or is simply Hating Obama and I believe a reasoned change of mind and re-evaluation of ones' beliefs is possible. And Snowden is correct (and I envy him for this) that, "Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American." But, is that what is going on here with Snowden and with, by extension, Greenwald?

So, what am I to make of Greenwald's tacit acceptance of the Bush Era Surveillance and Warmongering and his bositeroius ardent hatred of Surveillance and Warmongering now?

And what exactly does everyone want President Obama to have done and do about the NSA? Should he have unillaterally decalred the Executive would not be enforcing the Patriot Act ala DOMA? Should he be pressuring Congress to curtail the budget for the CIA and NSA and elimination of the Drone seciton of the DoD? Should the US not spy on anyone? Is this really about Privacy?

If Gun Loons are actually interested in the Liberty of the Second Amendment

Why don't they challenge Fireworks Laws and Ordinances across the country?

Today is the 4th of July. Every June, July and August resident complaints about fireworks skyrocket in my town. Now why is that?

Besides Municipal Ordinances, Illinois still has a multiple laws and regulations in reference to Fireworks; 425 ILCS 30, the Fireworks Regulation Act of Illinois.

Why don't the Lovers of Liberty move to strike down Laws infringing upon fireworks makers and users?

The reason they don't is because most Second Amendment Screamers are witting or unwitting tools for Gun Manufacturers and the Merchants of Death. Fireworks don't make enough $$$ to get the Gun Lobby motivated to file challenges under the False Flag of Defending Rights and Liberty.

By July 9th Illinois has been ordered to have a Concealed Carry Law adopted due to the 2010 case McDonald v. Chicago. In that 5-4 ruling, SCOTUS exercised an INCREDIBLE OVERREACH of BIG GOVERNMENT from UNELECTED JUDGES LEGISLATING from the BENCH, by holding that the Second Amendment was incorporated under the Fourteenth Amendment thus local, county and state governments have no rights in reference to Guns.

Of course, the word "Gun" appears nowhere in the Second Amendment. And besides the Stare Decisis of "Well Regulated" there is no clear definition of what "Arms shall not be infringed".

Small explosives have long been weapons and components of a military's hardware. By the time the Founders wrote the Bill of Rights, there was already an established tradition of individual soldiers armed with explosives, Grenadiers, as opposed to Fusiliers.

So, it's not cut and dried that Arms refers to Guns. But, what's clear is negligent discharges, unattended guns being used by children to kill children, and unlawful shootings of innocents are going up.

I'm not talking about murders but of these bizarre scenarios such as in an Oakland Wingstop where a Second Amendment Hero murdered two employees:

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said the men in the orange vests came in to order food but ended up running to the freezer section in the back of the restaurant, possibly because they felt threatened by a third party.
At least one of the customers was armed, the sources said, and shot the two employees when they went to the freezer to see why the customers had gone there.

Student Debt Slavery No Bankers Left Behind

The federal Loan Rate for approximately 7 million Students doubled on Monday. Federal law has set the rate for new subsidized Stafford loans at 6.8 percent, up from 3.4 percent.

We are living in an Ultra-Reactionary Time when the Ruling Class doesn't just want to reassert the Dominance of Neo-Feudal Capitalism but crush the hopes of the Working Class and Middle Class.

So of course Congress didn't do anything about the Student Loan Rate. With a few exceptions Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders being the two loudest proponents, the Ultra- Reactionary Republican Party and the Pro-Business Democratic Party are enforcing the Neo-Liberal Economic Strategy in an attempt to grind the Middle Class out of existence and return the 99% to the Status of Wage Slavery; Cogs in the Gears of Industry and Massive Debt for a career in the Petty Bourgeoisie.

Of course, it shows the utter hyporcisy of the Free Marketers. The Stafford Loan rate isn't determined by "The Market" but by fiat from the Congress. So, it's just another way in which Capitalism is a rigged game, for the Banking Institutions get their federal loan rate set by the Federal Reserve. It's currently set at 0.75% for Big Predatory Banks.