May, 2012; Grig – In what appeared to be a concerted attack launched by an as-of-yet unnamed foreign body, critical network nodes and sensitive hardware sites around this small, mountainous nation went suddenly off line in the early hours of Friday morning. Contrary to initial fears, the attacks – which appear to stem from a single finely crafted, specifically tailored virus – have had little affect on this rugged nation's civilian or military infrastructure. The average Grigovian is accustomed to rolling blackouts, heating material shortages, state neglect, and having to rely on his wits 99% of the time, so losing something as insignificant as the telephone network, and not being able to log onto the web, are everyday occurrences; such services as were lost during this week's virus strike prompted few, if any, lifestyle changes.
“We teach our grandchildren to be hardy, and to sit patiently in the dark not making a sound,” said Hennrig Yuyulong, 82, owner of an already dismal and smoke filled publick-house in the pulsing heart of this nation's capital. “We are not like soft-skinned American who cry when they skin their knees and who whine like children until they get their way. In Grigovia, we do things for ourselves, by ourselves, using our own resources, or we do not do them at all.” Analyses of the virus indicate that it was fabricated by highly advanced military algorithms similar to those used by U.S., British, Russian, and Chinese armed forces. According to Pitr Mohammad Yilyilanov, MIIG's senior press agent, the most recent attack is not the first such assault on this small, isolated nation's electrical and communications grids. “Most of our systems still run on old Soviet technology,” Mr. Yliyilanov declared at an early morning press conference. “This means that they are slow but reliable, cumbersome but also harder to hack, and backed up with backups for each backup. The systems affected during the breaches were responsible for all but the most peripheral systems such as our wi-fi and Internet servers, but, since most Grigovians do things by the old-fashioned methods, by the methods that have worked for generations, the only persons truly affected were sick or old, persons visiting our fine hospitals, and a loose smattering of bloggers who live in the band of industrial sites and abandoned warehouses known as Yidyidlenkov that encircles cosmopolitan Grig.”
場黑麥 menterefecterem fecit
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Showing posts with label capital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label capital. Show all posts
18 June 2012
30 September 2011
laurel of godlike achievement
The founders of America were influenced primarily by two religions: Christianity and Hellenistic polytheism (see here). Our halls of government are festooned with plaques referencing the Christian texts (see here); let those same halls ring with praises for the people of this land who most readily display the virtues of those gods whose spirit filled the minds of Thomas Jefferson and his ilk.
In the Christian tradition, achievements made by non-Christians are often ignored, swept under by the praises sung to individuals who have sacrificed solely for the cause of that religion, individuals who labored for what is considered, according that religion, positive change. The ancient Greeks, however, were not so partial to positivity – indeed, they preferred waiting to see how the chips would fall to the judging of actions based solely on how they helped to expand the scope of a particular religion.
In the ancient Greek world, men who in battle displayed the guile, the strategic mind, the cunning, of goddess Athena were said to be the embodiment of that god, to be filled with her spirit. Great fashion designers were hailed as exhibiting the virtues of Arachne, the goddess of the seamstress, while skilled orators were said to be filled with the essence of Hermes, the god of public speaking.
I hereby propose the creation of a group to determine, via a thorough and national vetting process, those Americans who in our times are most filled with the spirit of the Greek gods that so vastly influenced the founders of this nation.
I hereby propose the creation of a group to determine, via a thorough and national vetting process, those Americans who in our times are most filled with the spirit of the Greek gods that so vastly influenced the founders of this nation.
Great generals will receive the Laurel of the Owl and Shield for displaying heroic endeavor and cunning battle strategy, characteristics of goddess Athena.
Great poets and authors will receive the Laurel of the Arrow and Lyre for displaying the poetry and truthfulness attributed to god Apollo.
Great diplomats and merchants will receive the Laurel of the Winged Boot for exhibiting the diplomacy and cunning wiles attributed to god Hermes.
Great societal disruptors and street artists will receive the Laurel of Helm and Spear for their civil disorder and manly courage, attributes they share with god Ares.
Many other gods exist in the Olympian pantheon, and many more Laurels will be issued. The awards will be distributed in recognition of achievements that in any significant way affect the course of the nation, be they the actions of a spray-painting mad genius or the destruction of a Taliban outpost by special forces operatives dodging bullets in the torn landscape of Helmland province.
The concept of the Laurel of Godlike American Achievement will celebrate people from all castes, all groups, all races, and all religions. It will allow the people to select from within their midst those individuals who exhibit the virtues we hold most dear, such as inventiveness, risk-taking, motherhood, and skateboarding where skateboarding is prohibited. It will whip the masses into a great churning froth of Happiness by giving them something to which to aspire, such as knowledge of the woodland arts (Artemis), metalworking and sculpture (Hephaestus), and the celebration of eternal youth (Dionysus), aspirations other than those based purely on the accumulation of capital or on the ability to repeat the same religious mantras for years on end.
Your suggestions are welcome. Your readership is appreciated. Your hope springs eternal.
Ultima Ratio Regum - 場黑麥 John Paul Roggenkamp
07 May 2011
on rational egoism
Much has been ado of late about the theory of rational egoism championed by Ayn Rand. Politicians have taken up the call, among them Rand Paul, stating clearly their opinions of the Lumpenproletariat, i.e. the growing segment of the American population that has little or no capital; the poor. According to the theory of rational egoism, the poor and the destitute are parasites on society, while the rich are the wise and money-generating hosts on whom these parasites prey.
A small number of people in America have been allowed to amass large amounts of money and property, either by individual effort or through inheritance. Such vast quantities of capital are not necessary to house and to feed and to clothe the families and dependents of this tiny, monied elite. To protect their vast holdings, the monied elite has corrupted our elected officials, using the power inherent to capital to craft legislation favorable to them and theirs, thus becoming a plutocracy. To protect its vast holdings, this plutocracy has convinced the American people, using ingenious methods of propaganda, that the essence of the American Dream is to have capital, to be rich, to claw one's way at all cost into the closed ranks of the plutocracy, when these vast quantities of capital can only be brought into being by the united actions of all members of society, by the combined efforts of all people who labor in America.
The Constitution of the United States of America does not establish a capitalistic system in this country. It does not anywhere mandate that a few hundred families are to receive the fruits of the labor of tens of millions of American citizens. Instead, it states that this country is established to promote the general Welfare, to insure domestic Tranquility, and to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and to our Posterity. When the capital that is brought into being by millions of laboring citizens is funneled into the pockets of a few dozen, when whole populations are left to fend for themselves, denied quality schooling and medical care, when millions of Americans pass on to their Posterity not Liberty but enslavement to the ceaseless demands and empty joys of materialism, we can no longer honestly call ourselves the Children of the Constitutional Convention.
America has abandoned the principles set forth in the Constitution. Instead of employing the enormous amount of capital created here every day in the interest of all citizens equally, instead of providing each American woman, child, and man with the basic tools (i.e. food, clothing, shelter) necessary to even consider a method for obtaining Happiness, instead of ensuring that we are and shall always be able to pursue: "Our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs or impede their efforts to obtain it" (J.S. Mill, On Liberty), instead we have allowed a small, selfish group to highjack our most fundamental principles and to convince us that money - dirty, ever-corrupting money - is a more important component of our lives than unadulterated Happiness.
There is a storm coming. We have allowed those at the bottom (the poor) to go hungry for too long, and to grow too envious of those at the top (the rich). We have allowed the rich and the well-connected to escape Justice through presidential pardon and access to prohibitively expensive legal representation. We mock the concept of Welfare; we have reduced it to a pitiful and deplorable concept few self-respecting people care to support. Once the great swelling masses of the poor come to look past the smokescreen of propaganda, our domestic Tranquility will be shattered.
The Randian notion of rational egoism only serves to further obfuscate the true, founding principles of this country - that all Americans are created equal, and that they all have the Right to an equal share of the capital that exists and that is created in this country. We spend billions of dollars preparing for potential future conflicts against foes that do not exist, yet we reduce funding to our educational system, thus ensuring the perpetual mediocrity and persistent under-achievement of our nation's youth. We cut the rates at which the plutocracy is taxed while it wallows in more money that it could possibly need to live comfortably. We hear a president call shopping our patriotic duty, and, instead of denouncing roundly this farce, we dutifully max out our credit cards.
It is easy to blame the politicians for these failures, while We the People alone are solely to blame. We hear from our politicians that the richest few among us should not shoulder their portion of the national burden, and we accept this meekly and without complaint. We listen quietly as powerful forces attempt to elevate one religion (Christianity) over all others, and accept this brazen assault on the concept of religious freedom as inevitable and just.
We, the People, are failing.
We, the People, are watching with disinterest as the forces that guide this country are corrupted and bent to the will of those who have most benefited from our decline into capitalism.
We, the People, cannot afford to allow the greed inherent to rational egoism to further erode our Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. We must stand tall, and we must fight.
Otherwise, we will have sacrificed Lady Liberty to the god of Greed on the altar of Consumerism.
This aggression will not stand.
Ultima Ratio Regum,
John Paul Roggenkamp
A small number of people in America have been allowed to amass large amounts of money and property, either by individual effort or through inheritance. Such vast quantities of capital are not necessary to house and to feed and to clothe the families and dependents of this tiny, monied elite. To protect their vast holdings, the monied elite has corrupted our elected officials, using the power inherent to capital to craft legislation favorable to them and theirs, thus becoming a plutocracy. To protect its vast holdings, this plutocracy has convinced the American people, using ingenious methods of propaganda, that the essence of the American Dream is to have capital, to be rich, to claw one's way at all cost into the closed ranks of the plutocracy, when these vast quantities of capital can only be brought into being by the united actions of all members of society, by the combined efforts of all people who labor in America.
The Constitution of the United States of America does not establish a capitalistic system in this country. It does not anywhere mandate that a few hundred families are to receive the fruits of the labor of tens of millions of American citizens. Instead, it states that this country is established to promote the general Welfare, to insure domestic Tranquility, and to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and to our Posterity. When the capital that is brought into being by millions of laboring citizens is funneled into the pockets of a few dozen, when whole populations are left to fend for themselves, denied quality schooling and medical care, when millions of Americans pass on to their Posterity not Liberty but enslavement to the ceaseless demands and empty joys of materialism, we can no longer honestly call ourselves the Children of the Constitutional Convention.
America has abandoned the principles set forth in the Constitution. Instead of employing the enormous amount of capital created here every day in the interest of all citizens equally, instead of providing each American woman, child, and man with the basic tools (i.e. food, clothing, shelter) necessary to even consider a method for obtaining Happiness, instead of ensuring that we are and shall always be able to pursue: "Our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs or impede their efforts to obtain it" (J.S. Mill, On Liberty), instead we have allowed a small, selfish group to highjack our most fundamental principles and to convince us that money - dirty, ever-corrupting money - is a more important component of our lives than unadulterated Happiness.
There is a storm coming. We have allowed those at the bottom (the poor) to go hungry for too long, and to grow too envious of those at the top (the rich). We have allowed the rich and the well-connected to escape Justice through presidential pardon and access to prohibitively expensive legal representation. We mock the concept of Welfare; we have reduced it to a pitiful and deplorable concept few self-respecting people care to support. Once the great swelling masses of the poor come to look past the smokescreen of propaganda, our domestic Tranquility will be shattered.
The Randian notion of rational egoism only serves to further obfuscate the true, founding principles of this country - that all Americans are created equal, and that they all have the Right to an equal share of the capital that exists and that is created in this country. We spend billions of dollars preparing for potential future conflicts against foes that do not exist, yet we reduce funding to our educational system, thus ensuring the perpetual mediocrity and persistent under-achievement of our nation's youth. We cut the rates at which the plutocracy is taxed while it wallows in more money that it could possibly need to live comfortably. We hear a president call shopping our patriotic duty, and, instead of denouncing roundly this farce, we dutifully max out our credit cards.
It is easy to blame the politicians for these failures, while We the People alone are solely to blame. We hear from our politicians that the richest few among us should not shoulder their portion of the national burden, and we accept this meekly and without complaint. We listen quietly as powerful forces attempt to elevate one religion (Christianity) over all others, and accept this brazen assault on the concept of religious freedom as inevitable and just.
We, the People, are failing.
We, the People, are watching with disinterest as the forces that guide this country are corrupted and bent to the will of those who have most benefited from our decline into capitalism.
We, the People, cannot afford to allow the greed inherent to rational egoism to further erode our Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. We must stand tall, and we must fight.
Otherwise, we will have sacrificed Lady Liberty to the god of Greed on the altar of Consumerism.
This aggression will not stand.
Ultima Ratio Regum,
John Paul Roggenkamp
13 March 2011
not here nor there
Every single American president since World War Two has sent our country's military forces into battle. Not since 1941, however, has an American president actually declared war. An unchecked power-grab has allowed for the circumvention of the people's representatives (if one can still call them that) in Congress, so that our boys and girls can bleed and die overseas without any input from the citizenry other than massive, sustained, self-organized, and ultimately demoralizing demonstrations on their part. Instead of following a more democratic method and allowing such momentous decisions to be ratified or refused by those individuals who bear at least a modicum of obligation to the will of the American people (as intended by this nation's founders when they proclaimed that only Congress has the ability to declare war), we now allow one person and his or her close circle of advisors to make this decision. Vietnam was a police action, as is the Iraq conflict. We are not officially at war. This increase in the power of the executive branch of our government is threatening the stability of the tripartite system (executive, legislative, and judicial branches) our country's forefathers set in place, and will, unless it already has, bring our country to its knees.
It has become a rite of passage for a president to go to war, to grandstand and to self-promote and, ultimately, to try to solve problems that exist in other countries rather than tackling the issues we face here at home. (Compared to the complex social issues that, among other things, make Americans poor and that have filled our prisons beyond capacity, military action is satisfyingly efficient, brutal, and final.) Roughly three millions of Americans live in poverty, with nearly one million American children, yes, children, starving every day. The richest four percent of our countrymen control over half of this fine nation's entire wealth, and tens of millions of our fellow citizens work themselves to exhaustion in order to barely scrape by.
We have elevated the lure of money, the ever-damaging and ever-corrupting influence of cold hard cash, to the status of a deity, for which we sacrifice our time, our health, and our tears. Similar to the non-porcine animals in Orwell's book Animal Farm, we slave away by the millions under the impression that we are making our nation a better place for all, when we are only feeding the greedy, selfish, and bloated few at the top. This aggression will not stand.
As Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels declared in the Communist Manifesto, "Capital is a collective product, and only by the united action of many members, nay, in the last resort, only by the united action of all members of society, can it be set in motion." Americans, awake! We have fallen into an Orwellian trap from which the only clear escape is an early death. We are wage-slaves, base and pitiful creatures kept quiet by old tricks the Romans pioneered, by bread and circuses, by fast food and television, deadly to the body and to individual creativity alike, soft and fat and unfulfilled we live, shelling out billions every year to trick ourselves into thinking we are happy while wallowing in a system (our brand of top-few-capitalism) that is specifically designed to separate us from the hard-won fruits of our most precious commodity, our labor. This aggression cannot stand, just as it did not for the Romans, who soon realized that the people are smarter than they appear, and whose empire eroded soon after the people had had enough of the panem et circenses.
The Declaration of Independence says that government will bring our Happiness (and our Safety) into being, that it is there to make us happy and safe. Dear Washington, you must do better. You must change the system from its current configuration that funnels billions to the Few and alter it to benefit everyone equally.
This is the obligation set forth in the Declaration. Waiting for the people, the masses, to act, to demonstrate, to tear down the walls and institutions we have all worked so long to build can only end in heartbreak, terror, and death.
Dial back the executive powers. Realign our system of government to the promise of the Declaration, to the tender balance of the Constitution. It is not too late, but there is no time to waste.
Ultima Ratio Regum.
John Paul Roggenkamp
It has become a rite of passage for a president to go to war, to grandstand and to self-promote and, ultimately, to try to solve problems that exist in other countries rather than tackling the issues we face here at home. (Compared to the complex social issues that, among other things, make Americans poor and that have filled our prisons beyond capacity, military action is satisfyingly efficient, brutal, and final.) Roughly three millions of Americans live in poverty, with nearly one million American children, yes, children, starving every day. The richest four percent of our countrymen control over half of this fine nation's entire wealth, and tens of millions of our fellow citizens work themselves to exhaustion in order to barely scrape by.
We have elevated the lure of money, the ever-damaging and ever-corrupting influence of cold hard cash, to the status of a deity, for which we sacrifice our time, our health, and our tears. Similar to the non-porcine animals in Orwell's book Animal Farm, we slave away by the millions under the impression that we are making our nation a better place for all, when we are only feeding the greedy, selfish, and bloated few at the top. This aggression will not stand.
As Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels declared in the Communist Manifesto, "Capital is a collective product, and only by the united action of many members, nay, in the last resort, only by the united action of all members of society, can it be set in motion." Americans, awake! We have fallen into an Orwellian trap from which the only clear escape is an early death. We are wage-slaves, base and pitiful creatures kept quiet by old tricks the Romans pioneered, by bread and circuses, by fast food and television, deadly to the body and to individual creativity alike, soft and fat and unfulfilled we live, shelling out billions every year to trick ourselves into thinking we are happy while wallowing in a system (our brand of top-few-capitalism) that is specifically designed to separate us from the hard-won fruits of our most precious commodity, our labor. This aggression cannot stand, just as it did not for the Romans, who soon realized that the people are smarter than they appear, and whose empire eroded soon after the people had had enough of the panem et circenses.
The Declaration of Independence says that government will bring our Happiness (and our Safety) into being, that it is there to make us happy and safe. Dear Washington, you must do better. You must change the system from its current configuration that funnels billions to the Few and alter it to benefit everyone equally.
This is the obligation set forth in the Declaration. Waiting for the people, the masses, to act, to demonstrate, to tear down the walls and institutions we have all worked so long to build can only end in heartbreak, terror, and death.
Dial back the executive powers. Realign our system of government to the promise of the Declaration, to the tender balance of the Constitution. It is not too late, but there is no time to waste.
Ultima Ratio Regum.
John Paul Roggenkamp
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