Some thoughts on Race, Privilege, Class…and the Banks

Pyramid of The Capitalist System – flickr

And yes they are all tied together. Fist off and interview with Peggy McIntosh of race and privilege. More specifically White Privilege. From the web site Beyond Whiteness.

White Privilege:

1. a. A right, advantage, or immunity granted to or enjoyed by white persons beyond the common advantage of all others; an exemption in many particular cases from certain burdens or liabilities. b. A special advantage or benefit of white persons; with reference to divine dispensations, natural advantages, gifts of fortune, genetic endowments, social relations, etc.

Peggy goes into how white people when they think about or talk about race they are either consciously or subconsciously referring to those who are not white. That there are white people – normal – and non whites – not normal. She makes a point of saying that this is a system that is as old as the hills. Hundreds perhaps thousands of years old but not to take blame but to own it and from there do what ever has to be done to change it. She also gives some very goo examples of this privilege that we as whites take for granted but do not think about. Like how being white can give you a pass in situations that being non white would get you in trouble.

Pushed to the edge and really pissed off …

Hunger March – flickr/wikimedia commons

My old education institution in Florida – The Univ. Of Central Florida that was originally called Florida Technological Univ. – has had it’s own brush with a plot for mass violence. The person who was plotting this however committed suicide before carrying it out. Thought he did have the required implements of destruction.

UCF police said they received a fire alarm call around 12:20 a.m. As they responded to that call, police then received a 911 call reporting a man with a gun.

When police arrived, they found a student with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They also found a bag of improvised explosive devices, along with a handgun and an assault weapon. - Central Florida News 13

We may never really know the motivations behind this individual or his actions and proposed actions but it’s safe bet is was some personal problem or agenda that drove him to it.

There a those who like to see such situations as some idealistic political and/or religious or some other kind of plot. In most cases those who are involved are just people who feel they have been pushed too far and are generally just really pissed off and desperate. Desperation can drive people to do things and behave in a manner they would not under other circumstances.

If one looks at the history to most political and/or economic upheavals, they were generally started by people who had “Had enough” and were desperate. Even the Russian revolution caught Lenin by surprise when it began even though he and others had plotted the over throw of the Tzar, it was a spontaneous event by desperate people that initiated it. The same for the French revolution and nearly all other such situations.

And now with the current situation in Europe and the EU ministers decision on the Cyprus bank bail outs, they are sowing and fertilizing the seeds of another upheaval.

There’s been a great deal of discussion of how the deal came about, with a particularly detailed account at the Wall Street Journal. The new stance at the creditor nations and the ECB is that there will be “private sector participation” which is bureaucrat-speak for haircuts to the people who funded the banks. And in the fracas over renegotiating the pact so as to make it less unpalatable to the locals, the Eurozone officials have made clear they don’t care how Anastasiades skins this particular cat as long as he comes up with €5.8 billion from local deposits. Banks were due to be closed Monday on Cyprus for a holiday; officials are now considering imposing a bank holiday on Tuesday. Funds have been frozen in the meantime, producing what is likely to be the emblematic photo of this crisis, of a man trying to break into his bank branch:

. . . . .

Now the EU officials could easily calm nervous depositors by announcing an ECB-backstopped deposit guarantee, instead of the current national system which depends on not-exactly-credible central banks. Germany and its fellow surplus countries have hesitated about proceeding with the necessary steps to further economic integration (notice how the plan to implement eurozone wide bank supervision, which Germany insisted was a precondition to Eurozone-level deposit guarantees, has languished?). Germany is trying to maintain policies that are contradictory: it wants to continue to have large trade surpluses, yet not fund its trade partners; its wants debtors to meet their obligations, yet refuses to allow either enough in the way of fiscal deficits or monetary easing to keep debtor countries from falling into deflationary spirals, which assure default. Germany’s failure to relent on any of these conditions means that what breaks will be the financial system. – Naked Capitalism

It took FDR meeting with the heads of the unions and communists and socialist parties to convince him that this country was very close to another revolution in the 1930s. It was this sort of situation that brought Hitler to power and also brought down a number of leaders in other countries. People are not stupid and when they see that they are being sacrificed for the good of those in the upper crust..when they feel they have no say or recourse…when they feel desperate, they will eventually take matters into their own hands.

The PTB need to realize and be aware that it’s groups of highly desperate and pissed of people that will force a change in the current situation for good or bad. Not some high minded organized plot by some subversive element. Though these elements will often take credit for it, they generally are not the instigators.

The Choking Hypocracy of Tea Party Republicans in Michigan

Several months ago on the Michigan statehouse floor, two state representatives were censured for uttering the word “vagina”.
The word offended the delicate ears of a few other representatives so the two women, Brown and Byrum , were stripped of their right to speak on behalf of their constituents for a day.
Yesterday, a bill was introduced by Michigan Republicans that insists upon the insertion of a medical device into the vagina prior to an abortion.
On a personal note, I’ve had recent experience with a transvaginal ultrasound. Physically, it was mildly uncomfortable. Emotionally, it was as embarrassing as hell. Was it medically necessary? Yes. Very much so as a way to determine if some of my lady parts were cancerous.
But, there is no reason for this extra intrusion into a woman’s body before an abortion is performed. An abortion that the woman has requested.
I mean, the woman already knows there’s a fetus up in there. A transvaginal ultrasound is not needed to medically prove what has already been established. I can’t fathom any other reason why this type of test should be done on a pregnant woman other than to establish pregnancy which can be more easily done by peeing on a stick.
As far as I can tell, this is an attempt by Tea Party Republicans to coerce a woman to forgo an abortion through embarrassment and frustration, to cause her further financial hardship because any ultrasound procedure is not cheap, all for the sake of an ideology that only a sliver of the population embrace.
But, a transvaginal ultrasound as a prerequisite for an abortion? It’s just simply ridiculous. Unnecessary. I see it as nothing more than a power trip by a bunch of old white guys that get their rocks off by humiliating women.
That might be a little harsh, but, it’s exactly how I see it.
It’s amazing. One minute a Tea Party Republican cannot bear to hear the word “vagina” and the next they want to ram a probe up there and take a picture.

UPDATE: This bill has been shot down by the Michigan House Speaker….but, I’ll be waiting to hear what will replace it. House Speaker Jase Bolger still has not been cleared by a grand jury investigating election fraud. Who can trust what is said by someone who can cheat so easily?

How the GOP Didn’t Get “Si Se Puede”

After watching the exit polls since Tuesday night, I have to say that I’m most overwhelmed by the so-called Hispanic vote. So-called because “Hispanics” are more than just “Hispanics”. They are Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Latino, etc. etc.

Yet the GOP groups them into one little group and yet still thought, “Hey! They are mostly Catholic, aren’t they?? So they should like our platform!!”

Yeah, right.

Run on a platform of anti-choice, anti-women, anti-reform, anti-immigration, and see how far that gets ya, GOP.

Immigration reform is a huge deal, folks.

I tried to question my more conservative family members about the “Hispanic” and/or “Minority” vote, and why it swung so strongly towards Obama, and they all said “It’s their lack of amnesty, stupid.”

Actually, they didn’t say that. Only my mother answered me, and she sounded like Sean Hannity had whispered into her ear.

They just don’t get it.

White men, older folks, are now the only GOP base left. Southern Strategy thanks to Richard Nixon. Worked well, I suppose, in it’s day, but…you can only pick up so many votes from a dying base.

Until the GOP realizes this and reaches out to the new, changing demographics of our lovely and beautiful melting pot that is now America, it will continue to lose votes…and a lot of respect.

The Mandate Myth

A few days ago I read a short blog about the votes here in Michigan; how the Democrats actually had, statewide, more votes cast for their candidates than the Republicans had cast for theirs and yet the Republicans are once again in control of both state houses.

Howzat? Huh?

This was due to recent redistricting bullshit. The Republicans carved up the districts to give the voting advantage to themselves.

It’s good to be king.

I wondered if other newly redistricted states had experienced the same results.

They did.

Ha!

found on facebook

 

Going There

Women in binders?

When Romney uttered the phrase “Women in binders” I absolutely could not stop myself from thinking about the Chinese custom of foot binding for women.

Foot binding in China was outlawed in 1912 and in the 21st century there are only a few ‘outlaws’ left to bear witness to this awful custom. A hundred years. A hundred freaking years! It takes that long to erase this kind of crushing (literally bone crushing) kind of subjugation of women.

The next thing I thought was, under a Romney administration, will women lose what they have gained?

I’m not even talking about making further advances. I’m talking about being able to keep what we already have; the economic, social and personal gains. I fear a Romney administration will chip away at those until we are back in 1912 with our feet bound and our ability to walk proud once again crippled.

 

cross-posted at dagblog.com

Why Obama lost the debate

Messed up the reblog. Here is the original post.  From Doug Henwood

This is a lightly edited version of my radio commentary from today’s show.

First, I should say that while I am not a Democrat, and never had much hope invested in 2008’s candidate of hope, I do think we’d be marginally better off if Obama won. One reason we’d be better off is that when a Democrat is in power, it’s easier to see that the problems with our politics—the dominance of money and state violence—are systemic issues, and not a matter of individuals or parties. That’s not to say there are no differences between the two major parties. The Republicans are a gang of terrifying reactionaries, which flatters the gaggle of wobbly centrists that make up the other party. But the Dems have some serious foundational problems that help explain what is almost universally regarded as Obama’s dismal performance in the first debate.

The Attack of The Blob – Wall Street’s invasion of Washington

Citizens United – DonkeyHotey flickr

This is a review of Jeff Connaughton’s book Payoff: Why Wall Street Always Wins by Matt Stoller. An in-depth review of a look inside Washington and to a large extent, a take down of more than a few democratic Senators — most notably Joe Biden. By reading this review one would get the impression of it being the work of a disgruntled ex-employee, the author seems to think that it’s is deeper than that. I really cannot do this justice and I am sure Matt Stoller has left out some of the juicier parts.

I Want To Vote!

Today I printed off an absentee ballot application from my state government site for all things wonderfully public. I went to a lot of trouble to ensure I’d be able to cast a vote this year and I didn’t want to leave anything to chance.

First of all, I had to renew my driver’s license this past July. No big deal, right? Normally, it wouldn’t have been. But, it’s been a long time since my life’s been normal so of course, renewing my driver’s license was befit with all the possible Sturm and Drang I could manufacture.