He's mighty miffed!

So I am playing around with Cafepress a bit. Not that it would necessarily bring in a profit during a recession, but I like being able to customize and personalize things, as I suspect many folk do.

I've added a 'humor' section and the first image that came to mind was the 'angry bankster' dollar bill image I created a couple of weeks ago. Laughter is so many things, isn't it? Medicine, weapon, relaxant...

So then, get your angry bankster stadium blanket (or other angry bankster merchandise) while they are still available. And if the featured angry bankster decides to sue me, you know I'll still be laughing like a maniac behind bars :) Capitalism is pretty much the worst joke ever.

Come and get it! Angry bankster stadium blanket

LYNCH CORPORATE CULTURE NOW!

Yes, it has come down to this. I'm not usually one to advocate violence. But if you're not one of the lemmings who has bought into the corporate paradigm, you must murder it. There is no other way. If you think there is, think about what your children's futures will look like under this kind of oppression. Such false and callous authority. It can only get worse if allowed to fester.

If you feel you no longer have the strength, understand that you have more power than some dead, fictitious entity. Understand that life is stronger than anything man-made, because it has the incredible force of spirit behind it. If it helps, think about animal totems. Use the power of brother hawk to get the larger perspective, then zero in on your prey and make your kill. Use the energy of sister panther to claw at and kill all that is excessive and unhealthy in your environment. Right now, that would probably be the fake constructs of money and business. Take inspiration from raccoon to secretly investigate all that is wrong with this culture, and plan accordingly. Get that little black mask out! Be a ninja in service of justice. Use the amazing wisdom of owl to master silent flight past your enemy, so you can carry on uninterrupted. Take an example from squirrel or mouse and observe their awareness to detail.

Use the power of the changing seasons to recharge your own energy. You are powerful and dynamic. These dead systems are not. It's time we all saw the light. We can do this. We can finally be in service to life, and only life. Let the corrupt old men cough up blood and finally die off. That is the way of nature, life and spirit. There can be no other way.

And finally, if corporations are indeed persons (as was decided in the appalling Citizens United ruling), we should indeed be able to reach our respective verdicts and have them lynched :) Oh, silly me! Lynching doesn't require any verdict! Well all the more simple then :D We can get right to it.

Weirdly, I am writing this on the anniversary of Steve Jobs' death. I had no idea until I was reminded by the news. Well what a happy coincidence then. Are you enjoying whatever circle of hell you are now inhabiting Steve? I hope so. It pleases me no end to think of you there, fucker.

An Update

Twitter has now done something that would make Apple mighty proud - it suspended the account attached to the petition to repeal Citizens United. Why does this not surprise me? And why is there so very little outrage over it?! By now, we've really sold our souls to the devil. Why don't we care? Are we simply too exhausted? Is there so little fight left in us, that we refuse to even mock them anymore? Lord, are we in trouble...

For anyone who cares, disregard the link to Twitter in the previous post. Or click on it if you don't believe they've suspended it. There is now a new Facebook page regarding Twitter's action:

Twitter Quashes the Campaign to Repeal Citizens United

Repeal Citizens United - Please sign if you can...

All right, even if you happen to be a rabid Apple fanboy, you still would probably prefer that corporations not be defined as natural persons. Unless of course you are deeply anti-social and feel you have more in common with an unthinking, non-breathing, entirely fictitious entity. Then, yeah, I would get it.

So my appeal is to those who believe in the power of the people not to be bought. Get back to the original definition of democracy for a change. Breastfeed actual infants, not CEOs! You get what I'm saying?

Here are the links:

The Petition

Twitter

Facebook

Let's get things 'simplified,' so we can all breathe a little more easily!

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.