America is no sort of democracy, she's a socio-capitalist
oligarchy and republic. This nation is bought and paid for,
tricked and trickled on, sold out, betrayed and sinking fast.

But there is hope on the horizon. The enemy of the state
is not socialism, fascism, communism or any other ism.
And many fear the beautiful truths which can set us free.

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“Seeking what is true
is not seeking what is desirable.”
― Albert Camus,

“There is scarcely any passion without struggle.”
― Albert Camus

Transnational cartels own

and determine the destiny
of the American nation,
and China holds the purse-strings.  But most
people don’t want
to know the truth.

Too many live in fear
and do not dare accept reality.
Others retreat into fantasies or
fatalistic flirtations with disaster and diversion.

“Seeking what is true
is not seeking what is desirable.”
― Albert Camus,

Tax reform won’t fix what ails us.
The problems are systemic, global
and involve billions of people.

The structural basis for the economy of the United States of America no longer exists in theories about class written hundreds of year in the past. And we are certainly not suffering from a “spiritual” crisis.

“Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

In order to create fully-funded universal education through the
first four years of college at state schools, we need only shut
down the corporate welfare train.

In addition to outright corporate welfare, we have 21+
current wars of choice with drones, bombs, invasions,
occupations, and/or American boots on the ground.
Plus we fund and fortify wars on Gaza and the West Bank.
These 25+ wars are a first in American history
and cannot be not sustained.

We did not “drift” into ongoing conflicts
 (attacks, invasions, occupation, destabilization
and boots on the ground exploitation:

Bombings, Drones, Other (CIA) in

Afghanistan, Algeria, Burkina Faso,
Central African Republic, Chad,
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gaza, Gulf of Guinea,
Iran, Iraq, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Nigeria,
Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria,
Tunesia, Uganda, Ukraine, the West Bank,
& Yemen.  More than 25 Wars of Aggression 

Since taking office Obama has bombed TEN Sovereign NATIONS,
more than any of his predecessors. Most of these bombings and drone attacks violate International Treaties, U. S. Civil Law, The War Powers Act and Constitutional Mandates.

These misuses of human and fiscal resources, dumping millions of lives and trillions of dollars down the sinkhole of endless war and into the whirlpool of munitions, deployment and sales to both sides of various conflicts…
have to stop. We can demonstrate, march, vote, organize, and get active in orchestrating and implementing a new agenda.

Beyond merely addressing concerns about violence (while police battle the people of Ferguson and Israel ignores the rule of law, human dignity and moral compunction… we have global concerns on the table which will not simply go away and cannot be relegated to unending academic pontification.

Trillions of dollars currently “invested” in war, munitions, insurance cartels, overseas accounts and other forms of corporate welfare, can be redirected and put into more sustainable and productive investments: functioning schools, non-profit health care delivery, responsive government, hospitals, research & development, housing, parks, libraries, foundations, ports,bridges, railroads, electrical grids, environmental maintenance, exploration, ocean research,
space projects, and scientific research.

These redirected funds do not represent socialism,
fascism, communism, capitalism or any other ism.

“Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable.”

― Albert Camus,

Again….

Small Wisdom

Systemic tax reform
must address problems
that are global and
involve billions of people.

We can export agriculture, scientific solutions to environmental challenges, medical technology
and the arts and practical skills we continue to
develop and refine while we repair, replace,
expand and augment existing U. S. infrastructure.

Our hope for revolutionary change
must be based on sustainable
investments in peace, justice
and taking care of the most
vulnerable among us.
We must not accept
domination and intimidation
by the so-called
“military-industrial complex.”

We need to get our eyes back on the prize.

“Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it.

With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness – and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we’re being brainwashed to believe.

The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling – their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability.

Remember this: We be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them.

Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”

― Arundhati Roy, War Talk

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Rules of Grammar: The Serial Comma and Chaos Theory

 http://www.theportlandalliance.org/writing
Rules of Grammar: The Serial Comma and Chaos Theory


Rules of grammar exist. But personal writing styles provide special license to ignore or disobey
the rules. The serial comma provides a unique perspective on rules and style.  The Oxford comma
is correct when used or not used consistently in any piece of writing. Certain types of writing
(poetry, creative prose, private notes, email, novels, vernacular, dialog, etc)  can most often be
written in various (even truculent) styles which may transcend, ignore, or purposely violate
grammar rules for myriad purposes and ends.
Many imaginative writers and creative thinkers feel constrained by rules and inclined to rebel.
There is much to be said for thinking outside or underneath the box, or even for thinking without
consideration for boxes. Without lurid imagination, creative synthesis, and variable styles...
writing might be less interesting, pedantic, and shallow. Or not.

But after having said all of this, and for whatever reasons, the rules of grammar will still be written
on the board (whiteboard, blackboard, screen, or monitor) by imperious, surreptitious, clandestine,
or collaborative teachers (at least for as long as teachers continue to bother to learn the rules).
And this baseline of rules will continue to inspire rebellion. Many who are wont to rewrite the
rules or simply feel compelled to break them... might be well-advised to remember the admonitions
of George Orwell.

"In 1946, writer George Orwell wrote an impassioned essay, 'Politics and the English Language'.
He railed against dangers he saw in 'ugly and inaccurate' contemporary written English – particularly
in politics where 'pacification' can be used to mean "defenseless villages are bombarded from the air,
the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with
incendiary bullets...".

The baseline of grammar rules do matter. Many would not deign to rewrite them. Instead some look
upon the rules we have been provided as totemic mysteries. We continue to observe the rules when
this suits our fancy or is the most effective method for delivering a particular message to a clearly defined audience. And at other times... we choose to break the rules, deconstruct language, transcend tradition, and explode perceptions to embrace epiphany, translate chaos, and avoid confusion.

The bottom line of language, linguistics, and communication is this... while we may be captives...
constrained and restricted by the human condition... we are more than this.   So much more than
can be expressed by commas... serial, Oxford, or otherwise. And much of this, who and what we are,
will in time be communicated beyond the realm of language, in a symbiosis of emotion, spiritual
underpinnings, and blossoming joys and delights as yet barely imagined, demurely suggested, or
lightly sketched. And when we arrive at this intersection... all of our language may fall away
into new beginnings.

So yes! "There is a spoon" (and a fork and knife): however pointless all three may be to one
who hungers. Rules, grammar, and syntax matter... but only for so long as we imagine some
need to translate chaos. But the day may arrive when we become enmeshed, and chaos:
harmonious, melodic, and compelling becomes us. And we become it.
If this point arrives, we may reinvent the rules. Are we there yet?

Tim Flanagan, Associate editor of The Portland Alliance
  

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WritingResource.org: at The Wordsmith Collection, Inc.

A membership nonprofit for public benefit.   www.The WordsmithCollection.org

Food for thought

Tought-on a stick