Beautiful piece

Found a wonderful article by Chris Hedges today on Truthout. It was uplifting in a real and promising way. No New Agey stuff about 2012, just the facts on the inevitability of collapse of corrupt systems. We need more like this:

Don't say you weren't warned...

"America is immune to all appeals. Her people do not understand the language of the poet. They do not wish to recognize suffering - it is too embarrassing. They do not greet Beauty with open arms - her presence is disturbing to heartless automatons. Their fear of violence drives them to commit insane cruelties. They have no reverence for form or image: they are bent on destroying whatever does not conform to their pattern, which is chaos. They are not even concerned with their own disintegration, because they are already putrescent. A vast congeries of rotting sepulchres, America holds for yet a little while, awaiting the opportune moment to blow itself to smithereens."

- Henry Miller

Hardly surprising, but in case you haven't heard...

Really? Apple a tax dodger? Wow, what a shock! Well no, not really. The tactics mentioned in this New York Times article are some of the story. Apple's hoarding of permatemps is the other part, and you know that thanks to me. The others are too cowardly to tell the story. Again, that may be why Apple dropped me like a hot potato after using and abusing me for three years. But so? Better that the truth come out. I think it's sad that the remaining permatemps are allowing Apple to continue its shenanigans. I wish I could somehow do a calculation as to how much Apple saved by not paying out benefits or social security contributions to thousands of 'invisible' workers. I'm sure if I knew that amount, I'd really lose it.

Well here is the article. Note how Crapple defends itself in its usual haughty and arrogant manner. Again, what a surprise! Not...

Apple, tax evader

"Where young people go to retire."

If any of you have watched 'Portlandia,' you know what I'm talking about. And I think the comedic team from that series is spot-on with that observation, for the most part. Yes, I have relocated to Portland. And I've noticed that unlike folk from the Bay Area, people here, especially my age (late thirties) and under, are not quite so easily impressed with high tech gadgets, or high tech anything, for that matter. There is a retro feel to life here in the Northwest, to be sure. Powell's Books is a store I have yet to visit, for example, but I have been to some great second-hand bookstores. Bought the book 'Reamde' by Neal Stephenson. He's a lot like me. He does see the value in technology, but only when it is used as a tool to truly empower individuals or groups. He has no reverence whatsoever for tech companies, as he caught on early that they are just copycats of earlier versions of software/hardware/malware, you name it, from other tech pioneers. Pirates, to be precise.

I may have a visit soon from a friend in Oakland who will come up here to race on vintage motorbikes with his buddies. What isn't cool about that?! I love it. Though my heart is still aching for many of the people and places I knew in the Bay Area, I think Portland has its heart in the right place, on many fronts. Artists are loved and held in high regard, and they've also got great food and culture to inspire them. In fact, the food is a little too good. I may have to strap on my hiking boots a little more often...

Well, I have much to explore. Voodoo Doughnut might be a good start. Apparently, there's a pretty crazy competition that takes place there, which men participate in to get a year's supply of free donuts. Oh do I really have to tell you what they have to do to win? Use your imagination, man! As Steve Jobs had a fear of donuts, I think it has now become a personal quest to witness this event.

I've had the usual challenges anyone will experience when going through a big move. Living with family again has been a challenge. But for now, I am safe from the 'boom and bust' culture of northern Cali, and can take a break from the overall high cost of living in California in general. Mark Zuckerberg can have it. I'm so relieved that few of his ilk live here. Companies like Intel, Nike and IBM have big offices in and around Portland, unfortunately. But it's easy to avoid them if they are not your cup of tea. In the Bay Area, there was no escape from their oppressive presence. Every night on the news, I was reminded of Apple's latest stock value. That is the opposite of fun, at least for me. I want to have a real life, whether it is in Portland or elsewhere. And you cannot live authentically when you are surrounded by nothing but yuppies and trustafarians. I know that now, and I will never make that mistake again. If I'm going to compete, it will be with people who have really earned their living, and who got work on their own merit, not because they have a good connection with some 'highly networked' corporate whore on 'Linkedin.' Better to be poor and have real friends, I say. So consider me retired! Retired from all that is fake and has no real substance.