Will they listen to a financial analyst?

I hope so. I like what Ronnie Moas is arguing here:

Downgrade away! :)

"Let every force fail.'

The above is a quote from conceptual artist Matthew Barney's film 'Cremaster' (part 2). Anything that is a 'force' of any kind has to run out of steam at some point, right? And it appears this is exactly what might be happening to Crapple. Or at least the beginning of the end. There is now a very aggressive lawyer on the prowl, investigating their antitrust activities. Have a look:

Nightmares do come true...

And there is something interesting about this lawyer's last name 'Bromwich.' It sounds like 'broom witch' to me. Rather fitting, as I like to think some of the spells I've cast against corporate Murka may well be working. A nice New Year's present to the 99% for sure.

Here is Cremaster, Part 2 for your viewing pleasure:

Um, don't hold your breath, people!

Apple and philanthropy go together like... oil and vinegar, love and marriage, porn and evangelical Christians. Add your analogy here __________. Why are people fool enough to think that a company fronted by none other than the insanely egomaniacal Mr. Jobs for so long would so much as touch a charitable effort with a ten-foot pole?! Really, I wonder if I'll ever reach the hearts of the sheeple on all matters Crapple. It's in their own best interests to stop supporting that beast.

Well, here's the article if any of the sheeple decide they may change their minds and refrain from buying another iPad for their cat or bratty kids to play with:

Crapple Is to Charity What Steve Is to Personability...

OK BYE NOW!!!!

Yeah, Steve, we're really going to miss you. That sharp, jutting chin and smug mug. The angry, beady little eyes. That raging anti-social personality disorder. The black turtleneck 'n' jeans getup. Your total lack of concern for the abundant abuses against workers and customers perpetrated by the korporation you headed for so long. No, we will not miss your keynotes. At least those of us who were not and never will be lemmings. Link here:

Goodbye and good luck, you miserable bastard

You know, it's interesting. When Apple got rid of you the first time (or you left, or who the hell knows what really happened there), you started your own little enterprise, called NeXT. You phoned my Mom when we lived in Italy, almost desperate for her help in getting said enterprise off the ground. She's an accomplished musician, which was even more reason for you to want her on-board, music apparently being a big part of the project. Basically she laughed you off, thinking it was merely another sad start-up. For the most part, she was right. And no, she's not kicking herself today for having declined. I think like most people, she's a lot better off not having had to deal with Crapple's sick, sick mind games.

Oh, but not me. I was fool enough to have signed on with Crapple as a contractor, not having the slightest idea as to the abusive situation I was in for. How was I to know that I would put in almost three years as a Permatemp slave with no benefits?!! A creepy Crapple manager made sure I knew, in no uncertain terms and in a very threatening tone, that 'I didn't work there.' This after I quite understandably inquired as to whether I would ever be hired. Now I did not ask because I was in awe of Crapple or anything as silly as that. No, I was seeking my dues after having done a most excellent job for years on end, with little appreciation. The rest of the miserable story is to be found in this blog, if anyone cares. And really, I think you should, as Apple is now also denying its retail workers benefits. Yes, even those who work there 40 hours a week. You should all be very concerned, if you've any common sense at all. Some will argue with me that these policies, and mark my words, they are policies, could not possibly have come from the top. Steve has too many other important things occupying his brilliant mind! But I know different. I know that at best, he's a control freak. So I can say with a good degree of confidence that he was responsible for many of these abusive policies, from the sweatshops abroad, to the Permatemp issue in the US, to Crapple's unwillingness to pay its fair share in taxes, to the banishment of donuts from Café Macs. Oh, you never heard that? He seemed to think that donuts were more evil than him, for some reason, and that his health issues would be resolved if he refrained from indulging. That's not even the wackiest of his many hang-ups. 

No one will be crying for you Steve. Not anyone I know, anyway. Alas, not even my Mom will shed a tear for you, though for some reason she's still a fan of your overly marked-up, shiny turd product. You will go to your grave having been a viciously selfish, brutal and dictatorial human being. It won't be long before your demise now. So I'd really suggest you do something to redeem yourself, whether you believe in God or not. Maybe send a letter of apology to the families of those who were worked to death as sweatshop slaves by Foxconn in China, which we all know now to be a major manufacturer of Crapple's wares. About twenty of those workers despaired so much of the conditions they found themselves in, they finally took the ultimate escape. So yeah, an apology would be a start. You see, I don't care how 'clever' you actually are or that a few fanboys see you as a genius. What I see in you is a pure manifestation of the 'monkey mind,' and no, that's no bloody compliment. It's the lowest way for a human to be in the world, if you ask me. Because to be clever, minus the moral compass means nothing at all. At least to my mind and those in my immediate circle. And I'd be willing to bet good money that many others feel that way. We are social beings after all (well, most of us, anyway) and it is those with a social conscience we respect and admire most. At the end of the day, it really is character that counts. Hell, you could have invented a teleporter to the furthest habitable planet, but I still would remain unimpressed. I hear that Hitler was a pretty clever monkey too - though I don't know of any fans, aside from perhaps a few similarly sick, kindred souls. Invent what you want, head korporation X, Y or Z. If you're a sick fuck, I don't want to know you. It's really very simple. And my mother, God bless her heart, never had to be anywhere in the vicinity of your awful, dark energy/ aura, what have you. Call it what you like. I had the misfortune of having to sit near you at Café Macs. I'm still scrubbing my aura clean today...

Goodbye Steve, you will absolutely not be missed. Have fun in a hell dimension with other monkey minds/ anti-social fuckheads somewhere. I'm pretty darn sure that's where you're headed, dude. You'll be lucky if that's the worst punishment you get.

One more reason to love, love LOVE Prince :)

God bless that man, he hates iTunes! Of course he also apparently hates the interwebs, but I think we can give his Royal Purpleness a pass for that, and it's hardly the first eccentric thing he's said. Link here:

No love for iTunes!


It's soulful types like Prince who will save the world in the end. This, I firmly believe. I've been a fan since I was 12, actually. Crashed one of his A-list parties with my sister in San Jose (of course, he could have kicked us out and alas, did not, but that is another story...), been to every concert I could manage to get to, also with sis. And now he's announced he hates iTunes? Oh, the love just goes on and on. Thank you, brother, from the bottom of my hopeless, groupie heart. And please forgive me for posting links from the Youtubes, but I just felt I had to spread the love...

It's Not You! It really, really isn't...

Check out this article from Yahoo:

You know you're just a worthless, unemployed, lazy bum!

This issue has concerned me for a long, long time. I knew all about the unemployed being discriminated against, because like so many of you, I was and still am one of them. I recall having gone to an interview at a music start-up about a year after being laid off from Apple, and you know what the arrogant yuppie twit of an interviewer said?!

"Ah I see, you were laid off just when the market crashed in 2008. Interesting!"

Wow, I'm glad my life crashing down around me made such a neat little case study for him.  He's lucky he wasn't in a dark corner with me when he made that fucking smug observation...

For one thing, it's not as though this was some new revelation. I knew I'd been laid off at the worst time imaginable, and so did Apple. I know I'm not being paranoid when I say I was well aware they had it in for me. Life is not easy in the corporate world if you're not a saucy little corporate whore, and announce that you never will be, not for all the bonuses and perks in the world. But I do know that brown-nosing comes very easy to some. I worked with more than I can count. The stench got pretty bad, believe you me. The ones I knew at Apple were clearly reporting to my superiors that I was in no way alright with being Crapple's 'Permatemp bitch.' So that's likely what happened there. I hope they are enjoying the 'eau de poo' wafting 'round the office. They likely don't even notice any more. But then, that's pure unadulterated Evil for you...

For those of you who are, you know, NORMAL and not begging of someone's acceptance every damn second of the day, or willing to sell your first-born to your boss, just know that this time, it truly is not your fault. I wish there were a way to reach out to you other than this blog. For now, all I can do for the truly down-and-out is give a few measly dollars to a soup kitchen every now and then. It is specific to my neighborhood but hey, as they say, you gotta start locally.

Don't even worry if you've had to resort to doing something considered 'criminal' or socially unacceptable to survive. Do you think corporations have ever gone by the letter of the law? This is no time to apologize for wanting to LIVE! I know, in the jobs you've all held before, you generally had to ask your boss permission to even breathe, let alone have the audacity to inquire after a promotion. I've been there, believe me. You used to believe that if you elected a well-heeled and well-spoken man as President, that he'd look after your rights. He wouldn't let any entity, corporate or otherwise, step all over you and your family. But it turns out you were wrong about that too, because after you elected him and during the worst recession you can remember, it seems that every damn time you turned around, he was attending yet another fancy luncheon with the Chamber of Commerce. Sadly, we are all starting to come around to the brutal reality that there is no 'benevolent leader,' and we must at once survive this disgraceful betrayal together and map out a future in which ourselves and our loved ones not only survive, but thrive.

Just promise me something. Even if you are not actively engaged in some sort of anti-corporate or other activism, please take care of yourself and your loved ones, no matter what. Reach out to your friends who find themselves out of work as a result of this insane, inequitable, corporate cock sucking circus of a culture. It will indeed make you a better human being for having done so. Lie for them, if you have to, so they can keep that roof over their heads. Even if it means you have to pretend you worked with them in the past. You know, you've probably lied many times for your employer, an entity that after all, does not in any way possess the realness or intrinsic value of a human life. It's likely the lie was even bigger if you worked or work in sales or marketing.

I guess what I'm asking is that the remaining decent people left turn the tables on the establishment once and for all, which may seem like an overwhelming request. But I don't think it's impossible. Even a few well-meaning individuals can bring about tremendous change. Fight for what is real, and you will see illusory power structures fall, as mighty and grand an illusion as they may seem to be. Liars and cowards are actually pretty easy to defeat, once you get the hang of it. This is your time, and mine. We may be temporarily miserable, but we'll survive and we'll make sure the corporate lie is exposed once and for all, and for all to see.

Murkans and their beloved korporate police state

Alas, it seems my blog is finally getting some attention. I'd love to think it's all thanks to my wit and charm, but interestingly, something even better may be at play here. I think Americans are FINALLY beginning to understand that korporate Murka does not in fact have their best interests at heart. It's beyond tragic that it took a whiplash of a recession that tossed them and their families out into the street and onto food stamps for them to finally get it. But perhaps waiting until the situation is ridiculously dire is more a human trait than a purely Murkan one.

Myself? I don't really consider myself a real citizen of this inscrutable country. I was born here, yes, but hardly stayed long enough to become a korporate drone. My family whisked me off to the fertile fields of Italia when I was all of 12 years old. And what did I learn there? I learned that it's ok to be human. Really! It's alright! It's perfectly fine to have friends old and young, to have an impossibly long meal while chatting with said amici and to have something in your life besides the j.o.b., not to mention my now incredibly refined palate and knowledge of fine wines. Ha! ;) At any rate, that's what living is to me. I want to be gloriously human and spectacularly flawed, like an included gemstone. I want to do more than sit in a stale old office, cowering under and answering to 'The Man.'

Though I have little in common with Murkans, aside from my fellow San Franciscans who also enjoy the gastronomical delights, I do want them to find a lasting happiness with a touch of the authentic. Otherwise, why bother living at all? To them, I highly recommend Henry Miller's 'The Air-Conditioned Nightmare.' In it, they will discover what was and still is wrong with this country. In fact, I have a theory that his books were banned in his time not due to the erotic content (which was sometimes considerable) but because he dared criticize the home of the brave. I don't see it that way at all. I think if you're at all patriotic, you will be willing to figure out what is undesirable in your beloved homeland if you truly do care for it and its people. Henry was one such deeply patriotic and respectful individual. Listen to him! What he has to say is still very much relevant. Forgo a trip to the mall, and read that book! Or just about any book, for that matter...

And as for me again, I may just use my Canadian citizenship at some point, because I still find Murka a tad too korporate for my delicate palate to tolerate. Hmm... it tastes a bit acrid, like... printer toner! I hear my fellow Canucks also know how to live it up. They are the loft party, folks! Perhaps some day, America will be the groovy basement party. Somehow I doubt it, as CEO worship is still very much a pandemic here. I remain stuck for the moment, as I still owe Uncle Sam a ridiculous sum in taxes from my toxic permatemp stint at Crapple. My family is also here and I just can't abandon them to a hostile korporate continent. Un giorno, amici miei, un giorno...


Some music for the soul...




I also highly recommend Henry Miller's essay 'The Staff of Life,' if you think I may be on to something where his criticisms of the US are concerned. Find it here.

"Earning a living has nothing to do with living."

- Henry Miller

The IRS wants to levy my kidneys!

This world is a sorry, sorry shame, isn't it? Or at least the way we have it set up, with the 1% getting away with everything and being given whatever they want, pretty much for no reason in particular.

Now the IRS wants to levy what little I have in this world, all because Apple, Inc. misclassified me as an independent contractor. You can kiss my sweet ass, IRS! And Crapple, too, while I'm at it! It doesn't pay to inform the IRS what these companies are up to, either. As far as I know, Microsoft was the only corporation to pay penalties for hoarding Permatemps. The IRS made some phony announcement a while ago that they will prosecute such shameful corporate scammers and award you a handsome sum if you report them, but it's simply not true. There is no 'pie in the sky' or multi-million dollar award. Now, they may have prosecuted a few insignifcant semi-rich individuals for having offshore accounts, but that's really about it. It makes you wonder why they made such an announcement in the first place. Do they really think we'll see them as the 'good guys?' Fat chance!

People, please let me know if you have a similar story. These sorts of crimes happen in the dark, as most of the worst of criminal acts do. In the case of Permatemps, they are afraid to report anything, because the poor sods are so bloody grateful to have any work in the current epic fail of an economy we are now facing.

I know, I am a nut! I am one of very, very few who EVER DARE complain. I've lost out in the short term because of this. You want to know why I protest so loudly, stupidly risking (read - already having risked) everything? Because it's better for all of us in the long term. I am a lot of things, but never have been, and never will be a coward. Call me big bad wolf lady! I really don't care. I have the courage to expose corporate evildoers, and for that, you should all be thanking me. I will stand up to whatever is wrong, until I'm on my deathbed, or until the IRS really does make good on its threat to levy my precious kidneys... Of course, I'd rather eat Steve Jobs' kidneys, with some nice Chianti and fava beans. But he's really a pretty sick puppy, and likely not long for this world (though I'm hardly pitying him). Oh and lo and behold! Here's a cheery news item! We'll really miss him! Not! I predict that Steve will be a PC in the next life :D

Let's make this America's new anthem. Seriously.

YES, Apple uses Permatemps and I am proof...

Just re-posting this as I think it should be broadcast everywhere until people understand that this is truly an abusive practice...

I had been a casualty of the whole dot-com bust back in 2000, but I figured that hey, it was a risk I was well aware of taking at the time by working at a start-up. At least then I qualified for unemployment when my co-workers and I were laid off en masse.

I can truly say now that those were the good ole days. It has now been 5 months since I was laid off from Apple and did not even get to leave as an employee. They called me on a SUNDAY to dispose of me and sent my desk equipment, most of which I had to purchase, by FedEx and all broken. I had put in almost 3 years of hard work there and never received benefits. I worked full time, on site and was bossed around by some sissy boy who didn't have half the experience I have, and on top of that was considerably younger. I had asked this passive aggressive jerk wad several times if I would ever be hired by Crapple, but no luck! There were plenty of false promises though, believe me. A promise of getting hired was usually quickly followed by 'when we have head count.' What the HELL does that mean? Pardon my French! I worked alongside the Apple brats doing the same thing, but getting considerably less pay. And I had to suffer the indignity of watching them get rewarded with expensive freebies - yes, even iPhones were given away. But alas, my badge displayed the 'gray' apple of disgrace, not the colored version of those walking around the cutesy campus with stock options and paid vacations. So yes, what I am describing is indeed a caste system, and I will never know if Steve Jobs created this creepy little scenario for his own amusement, or the savings he's skimmed off the Permalancers, or both.

In case anyone thinks this is a sad little tale from someone with some sort of victim complex/mentality, I have to inform you, you are sadly mistaken. It may be hard to believe, but I am writing this for YOU! I don't want any more workers being misclassified in this fashion. And yes, the term is indeed 'misclassification.' It means that any company using Permatemps who are actually employees by law, is doing so to protect its stock value first and foremost, and also to avoid paying social security and medicare taxes.

Unless you actually enjoy getting completely screwed over in such a fashion, please heed my warning! Take a job with an agency if you must, but make sure they comply with the 'hired within 3 months' rule. I know what I'm talking about. We all have to protect each other from corporate corruption and start listening to the so-called 'little' people. Look, I know that doing so may feel less glamorous and slick than corporate worship, but in the long run it will be our salvation.

Anyone who needs more information on this relatively new abuse (well it's been 10 years since the Microsoft Permatemp lawsuit) can just contact me or learn about tech workers' unions, the likes of Washtech. Again, a reminder: if you have not been 'officially' hired by a company, but you work on site, full time for more than 3 months or God forbid, a year, and are managed and told what hours to come in, you are a Permatemp, and this is called misclassification, which is a real and severe violation of labor law. Also, if they assess your work regularly, rather than just asking that you complete a project, that is also an indication you are closer to employee than contractor status. In addition, a big red flag should go up if they supply the equipment you work on. Apple gave me a full workstation on site. In fact, I was given one of the fastest computers in the department. If my job was so trivial as they implied, why would they do that? I hinted that I bought some equipment earlier on. That was purely ergonomic stuff, but still expensive, which I did indeed resent. Employees had all kinds of custom ergo adjustments made to suit them. I hope this information helps you in determining what your status at work is.

In the meantime, I am at least back in my beloved city of San Francisco, and no longer have to commute with a bunch of clueless kids to Cuperstupid. Because Apple had me misclassified as self employed, I did not qualify for unemployment benefits, as you might have figured out by this point. I don't have much money to eat, but am eating doughnuts with a vengeance. Steve Jobs is afraid of them, by the way. For now my only power is my word, and you'd better believe that everything in this post is true. Really, Apple should think twice before laying off someone who is not only crazy enough to survive anything, but who knows how to get her work published all across the interwebs and in just about any printed publication. Hey Steve, just for your information, I've been published in Rolling Stone and The San Francisco Examiner and... shall I go on? Power to the people!