In Baratunde Thurston's new book "How to Be Black " the author presents a funny and truthful premise for living in mainstream society as a black person. I feel it important to highlight that his entire thesis rests on what I describe as a premise of conformity. The assumptions present in his writing cover those who accept the paradigms of the mainstream, get a job, hold it and move through the systems before them. It does not touch on those who "question the values of the mainstream society around us" and subsequently choose to reject them. This motley crew of societal pirates fall into the plight of being either geniuses of insane persons. They are geniuses if they are successful at making a lot of money (regardless of how they use their monetary wealth). They are dubbed insane, ostracized, and suffer an often lonely life filled with unceasing (and often unfair) challenges if they do not make a lot of money.

This plight of those who question the world order is well documented throughout history. Ghandi, Mother Teresa, Malcom X, Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, and Martin Luther King, Jr. (to name a few) all chose to oppose "the values of the mainstream society around us". They were societal pirates. Read more »

President Obama is hobbling into the final stretch of his re-election run. He has lost credibility with his public base because they feel he did not do what he promised he would. He has lost support elite fiscal base (the wealthy, business owners, and c-suite managers) because he cannot continue to follow their prescriptions which have proven only to exacerbate the gap between them and the poor and working class.

It is important to see clearly what President Obama has done, and done really well. He has made a concerted and highly focused effort to bridge the big divides. He has reached out and tried to work with those across the aisle on a range of issues seeking to achieve compromise focused on common aims. Read more »

The utter jubilation expressed at the news of the assassination of Osama Bin Laden by a Navy Seals unit served as a telling marker of the state of American affairs. Outward expressions of joy and celebration were put forth by many Americans across socio economic lines. And they all reek of ignorance, support for murderous violence, and utter contempt for compassionate relief and the rule of law many profess to be bound by.

Here's a checklist of the issues we face that prevent us from being a functioning democracy based on core principles of equality: Read more »

With all that is going on, being already utterly overwhelmed with uncertainty in every area of our daily lives, working class people must be really, really focused on the issues before them. Specifically the issues that require top prioritization and consistent effort to change to our mutual benefit.

"Mutual benefit" is a key term with important meaning. It means that whatever we do, first and foremost, we intend for it to provide benefit to the overwhelming majority. It means that while we may decide to tear apart systems that deliver some of us great benefits, we will do so with a design that ensures those affected will continue to benefit from the new systems and that more will benefit overall. Read more »

So I've been thinking (uh-oh), if corporations must rule the world and lust to be seen as mega successes and pillars of civilized society - how about they act like it? Crazy, I know.

Here are a few thoughts:

Employee Coverage - Since employees have no rights and are subject to the rules set by the company, and since companies want to pay nothing for labor, how about companies taking a piece of those record profits and providing decent housing, healthcare, education, and child care for employees? Okay, your probably enjoying a better quality of life if you're homeless, but at least then companies could truly own and control their workers while claiming to be compassionate. (Note-To-Self: Who said they wanted to be compassionate?) Read more »

Prominent conservatives, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Rick Santorum to name a few, denounced the uprising in Egypt and insist that President Obama should have helped the Mubarak regime suppress it. I struggle to see such action as "democratic" in any way. And that leads me to a point I've been making for some time - America is not a democracy.

It is interesting to see scholars and pundits now speak to the rank unfairness of it all. I find it particularly amusing to watch as they cling to the two party doctrine and beg for the Democrats to do something. As if they are not all part of the problem. In a recent editorial published by The Free Press titled "Fighting the 5 fascisms in Wisconsin & Ohio," Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman reluctantly admit "As defined by its inventor, Benito Mussolini, fascism is "corporate control of the state." There are ways to beat around the Bush---Paul Krugman has recently written about "oligarchy"---but it's time to end all illusions and call what we now confront by its true name." As evidence they cite the following in relation to the current labor battles taking place in Wisconsin and Ohio, "The first Germans Hitler put in concentration camps were neither Jews nor gypsies---they were trade unionists." Read more »