THE PSYCHOPATH TEST and 2012 American Election Results!!

I’ve been listening to Jon Ronson’s simply fascinating THE PSYCHOPATH TEST. A book that has the staggering central premise, that a telling percentage of the people in positions of power, heads of business, captains of industry, even presidents of nations, are psychopaths. Not just calling them names, or using the term as a throw-away appellation, but meaning many of these people who scrape and claw for positions of power are true, dyed in the wool, clinically diagnosable… psychopaths.

The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry

Psychopath is defined by Webster’s dictionary as : a person with a psychopathic personality, which manifests as amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience, etc.

Bloody hell, if that is not a spot on description of too many people who have run, and in many cases ascended to positions of influence from the United States to Israel to Britain to Greece. 🙂

So the PSYCHOPATH TEST espouses that the type of men (and women) that gravitate to such positions of control over the lives of many, often exhibit the same psychosis, check all the boxes, as those who seek the violent and criminal control over individuals. It takes, in both cases, a disregard for the individual; and seeing the other as something to be used for the controller’s own selfish ends and needs. The only difference is in degree, and that one does it, under the guise of lawfulness.

Listening to the audio book in the build up to the election, and in the wake of the American election results, it becomes clear just how much psychopathic behavior is part and parcel of the people who would seek and struggle and claw for positions of control over our lives. And more, how much psychopathic behavior flourishes in the camps that get swept up in the rigged game that is the American political process.

The Obama/Mitt Romney nonsense was from the first a rigged game. Both on the payroll of the same big business/industrial war complex machine, whoever lost between those two fabricated opponents, Big Business wins and the American people lose. Clearly given Mitt Romney as a choice, Obama comes off as the lesser of two evils, and the knee jerk vote if you’re programmed to vote either Democrat or Republican (I’m not).

But lesser of two evils or not, only a fool or a liar could look at Obama’s record in the past four years and see it as anything but Bush-lite. The expansion of the same war and big business and eradication of civil liberties that Bush’s reign consisted of.

So such is the power of the spin, and mass media, and lies as truth, they can get liberals to embrace a dark colored but well spoken conservative posing as a liberal, and they can get conservatives to hate a man who is doing what the conservative party has always done, which is support big business at the expense of the middle and working class; and thereby manage to move the conservative party from conservatism to totalitarianism just to find some distance in ideology between two candidates who are both clearly in the pay of the same conservative interests.

Forget the bullshit, issue-obscuring, bills that were tossed up for the American people to believe they were voting on something of meaning; on the real important issues of America, War, Corporate Welfare, expansion of government powers and surveillance, Obama and Romney are kissing cousins. It was a mainstream presidential election, without any true liberal candidate represented by the big 2.

Being someone who doesn’t let mass media pick my options, I voted for a candidate that wasn’t the lesser of two evils, but one I could feel good about voting for. A third party candidate, with experience and a platform and a stance I liked, I’m speaking of former Governor Gary Johnson.

But the mass of America, so programed to not seeing anything beyond what the media wants them to see, saw only the two evils presented them.

And that, in the fullness of time, may be a shame… and a tragedy.

In many ways it’s far better to have the winner of an election be, the open conservative rather than the hidden one. Because people make apologies or just fail to see the rampant conservatism of Obama’s reign, something they would have galvanized against if Romney had ascended to the Presidency.

So instead we have four more years of the American people losing EVERYTHING to corporate interests, but because we’re getting hit by a silk covered fist, we concentrate on the silk, and ignore the knuckles that are knocking our teeth out.

In many ways Obama’s reelection is far more damning to Civil Liberties than Romney’s could ever be. The latter would have galvanized opposition, the former elicits protective excuses. I don’t care if you are Black. I care if you are a tool for big business, and an agent for destruction of the middle and lower classes.

And this Obama has been.

If the halls of our political process are filled with psychopaths, as the book THE PSYCHOPATH TEST hints at, then perhaps the only thing more dangerous than voting for an obvious psychopath, is voting for a reasonable man, in the pocket of psychopaths.

Time will tell. For all of us.

Gary Johnson Romney Obama Ron Paul Stewart Alexander and the Lesser of Evils

“I’m an old lefty. I believe the government must do for people, what people cannot do for themselves.”
— Green Arrow courtesy of Dwayne McDuffie’s excellent JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED

I’ve been watching classic episodes of JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED, a show that remains animated television at its best, and for most of its run the love letter of producer/lead writer Dwayne McDuffie. The recently departed Dwayne McDuffie who followed up his stellar work at Warner Brothers Animation, with unfortunately editorially sabotaged work at both DC COMICS and MARVEL COMICS.

With the 2012 US Presidential election nearly upon us, the take away from my watching of JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED is that line, and the idea that only in a country as monumentally effed up and corrupt and mismanaged as America, could anyone consider either of the television approved candidates, Obama or Romney, steeped as they both are in the blood and oil and pus and complicity of big business, as viable people’s candidates.

You are a fool if you believe Obama is, and has been, in his tenure anything more than Bush-lite. He has rubber-stamped policies, in the past four years, that have destroyed civil and economic liberties domestically and expanded the endless war abroad.

And to make his conservatism seem liberal, he is contrasted with a malicious madman in Romney, though both candidates are more alike than they are different, taking money as they are from the same masters. But this illusion of conflict is played up in the media, to give the American people once more… the illusion of choice; a choice between the lesser of two evils, the choice between big business crafted puppets, between Mussolini or Hitler if you like, which is to say… no choice at all.

I voted for the ‘lesser of two evils’ four years ago, and I’ve regretted it since, with every bill or shredding of civil liberties that Obama has signed into law.

In many ways I think we would be in a better place if the obvious madman Mccain, had come to power 4 years ago, because people would have rallied against his obvious butchering of civil liberties, rather than this death by inches thing that has occurred under the cult of personality, which is the presidency of Obama.

He has been as ‘republican’ a president as you could hope, with all the negative connotations of that word, but his every action has been defended (or ignored) by people who see his labels (Democrat, Black, Liberal) rather than his actions (Republican, Conservative). And Republicans, conservatives become more conservative/republican to keep/enforce this artificial feud (which serves no one but big business), this artificial division of them and us.

So I’m not inclined to be backed into a corner again this year, this year I’m voting for a candidate whose views intrigue me, and whose background and history gives me reason to feel… justified.

Candidates on the ballot or write in candidates not sanctified by big business are few and far between, here are a few such candidates:

GARY JOHNSON– The former republican, and two time Governor of New Mexico, now running under the Libertarian ticket, has me very intrigued for his anti-big business stance, and his history of not raising taxes,

STEWART ALEXANDER –
http://stewartalexanderforpresident2012.org/- I’m also intrigued by the ticket of Alexander and Mendoza that is running for the Socialist Party. Their stances on the issues is the about face from the “give big business our first born” dance the American people have been on, though their lack of any documented political experience and lack of endorsements is a bit of a concern. As is the general sub-par nature of their web-site and presentation. But at this point in America’s history, I’ll take the well meaning amateur, over the slick big business approved trained seal… any day.

RON PAUL– I can’t really figure out from day to day if Ron Paul is running or not running for the Presidency, however it’s an impressive site the 75 year old has, and the stances he pays lip service to, you can really get behind. Give it a read, and should his name show up on a ballot, I don’t think anyone would have an argument picking him over Romney or Obama.

So where is the candidate who will do for the people, rather than for big business? Well he may be one of those above, take a look for yourself and decide.

You only have one vote, and despite what any one tells you, it is not wasted if you go against the majority or the ‘sure thing’, it is only wasted if you go against your conscience.

When the record shows that 99.99999999% of the population voted for the lesser of evils or established evils, be not afraid to stand alone as that man or woman who voted out of hope… rather than fear. One of the votes I’m proudest to have cast, was a ‘losing’ vote, was for Ralph Nader. And I’d cast it the same way today, given those same candidates and situations.

I’d cast it for the attempt to make things better, rather than the certainty and fear of keeping them the same.

Here endeth the Lesson

Justice League: The Complete Series DVD! Buy your copy here and earn some pennies for this blog post. Easiest way to show your appreciation for a post. Thanks!

President Obama: The Summing up Place. Conservatism, Liberalism… and the road yet traveled

The problem I have with President Obama, is not that he lied in his pre-election promises.

To some extent all politicians, slaved to corporate interests lie, it is an unfortunate failing of the American political system that we allow business to have more influence on our politicians than the citenzenry they are supposedly there to serve.

No my issue with Obama, that I hinted at on this blog prior to his election, is the magnitude of his lies.

He rode into office on the hopes and dreams and eloquent quotations, sufferings and civil liberties of the dream of America. Rode into office as an answer to this endless push to war, to the dismantling of liberties, and to the corporate plundering and rape of America, that characterized the Bush administration.

And unfortunately Obama’s administration has been, for all wild mutterings of America’s nazietic wing, has been a continuation of Bush’s policies, which is to say a continuation of corporate America’s policies.

He pays lip service to liberalism, when his policies, laws and edicts since entering office, is conservative to the point of totalitarianism. Granting the FBI and other acronyms of our abuse, unheard of powers to dismantle, without oversight or rule of law or due cause, civil liberties on a frightening scale.

They can shut down websites, the Internet in fact, a kill-switch, with no cause, and no oversight beyond their own. The FBI is allowed to put a tracer, a tracking bug if you will, on any person, any vehicle, at their discretion, with no oversite of law. With no word, but their own. A recent push to make abuse or violation of corporate rules by employees, a federal crime. And the list goes on.

Add to that the continuing rape of the American people, unholy taxation of the American people, financial slavery of generations not yet born, to support businesses unrepentant in their mismanagement and greed, and willingness to sacrifice America as a concept, to advance insane policies of the military-industrial complex, and new middle east pleasure nations, carved out of the bodies of all those we have blown to hell.

So yeah, you can say I’m not happy with the current administration. Obama was the lesser of two evils, but much like Kerry before him, whose race against Bush was a sham, too good old boys staging a fixed fight for the rubes, the wrestling crowd, he was just Bush, repackaged.

Which is to say, he is the talking head of global corporate entities, that love America not.

But what makes Obama’s betrayal, particularly egregious, is it really is a no win situation for him, the way he is currently playing it. He will go down as a traitor to the masses who elected him, and to the interests of people and causes and legacies, that he had the gall in his election bid to invoke, and the gall in his presidency to utterly betray.

And even though he serves well his Bushian corporate masters, following in policy the dismantling of liberties initiated by Bush, he is reviled and hated by the very conservatives that his presidency is clearly supporting. Hated because, he still plays enough lip-service to liberalism, in his color if not in his heart, to elicit a Pavlovian hate, from people who are ignorant of the larger mysteries, and for whom hate is all they have been bred to give.

Obama, if he continues the perilous road he is on, he will be hated by heroes, and he will be hated by the fools he serves. And his presidency will go down as a failure, to shake the very foundations of the empire.

Which is perhaps what it was designed to do all along.

There are those, chairmen of ships of industry, pullers of strings, proponents of slavery, and dismantlers of concepts such as minimum wage, and workers protection, who want very much to be their father’s sons. To be once again undisputed Robber-Barrons and Masters, and make the mass of men serfs and slaves. And all that stands in their way… is this dream called America.

If they can make Americans renounce this dream of liberty and brotherhood, this purposely failed concept of America, they can win, those great things, their fathers lost.

They can win, by extinguishing in the hearts of those who should love it most… even the dream of liberty.

And Obama’s presidency stands poised to give to these men their…New World Order. Their rise of Nazism. We are Germany, being groomed for the coming atrocities, for the rise of a new Hitler, to save us from our failed democracy.

Obama as puppet to corporate masters will serve nothing but his own vilification, and the destruction of his children’s future, all children’s future, and the immolation of 400 years on this continent, long before the constitutional signing, of striving toward a more perfect union.

Obama’s only hope, as President, as Father, as Man, and ultimately as descendant of slaves, is to be in deed the man of his election speeches, to give those who voted for him, his half of the contract. And to give those who hate him for no reason, cause to respect him, and if necessary to fear him.

It is a hard road to walk. But when the choices are liberty or slavery, I will walk the former road, though hell and some such neighbor bar my way, to paraphrase Shakespeare. And Obama is at that point in his presidency where he must choose his road.

As defender of liberty… or its destroyer.

Machine Men, with Machine Minds… Killing in these Machine Times

There are so many atrocities and tragedies going on every single day, that I do not want to dwell on only the ones the press will regurgitate for the next couple of days ad nauseam, to no useful end, except to justify their existence and prep you for the next atrocity of the moment.

I want to talk to you about a nation that breeds atrocities.

A coworker (a good guy, a republican, but a good guy 🙂 . I respect him, and I can’t say that about a lot of people) said that all empires fall, and America has begun her deep slide from grace. I have no love for the American empire, the dream of America yes. But the tortured, stinking reality it is… that petty men work so hard to make it be… no, I have no love for that disease of empire. Never have, never will.

But this “fall” as my coworker calls it, is no fall. It is a push. It is, mark my words, a push. A push toward totalitarianism by sabotaging democracy. A sabotage of a system that can work if allowed to; but totalitarianism works better for some, for a few.

A few need breathing room.

A return to the good old days. And if atrocity, after atrocity is what it takes for you to give up liberty, to get their definition of security. Then let the blood flow.

My God if you look at the last seven years, from bombings, to sniper attacks, to chemical warfare, to school shootings, to Katrina and institutionalized neglect that is the definition of malicious and criminal, to police torture, to American run concentration camps; America reads very much, like a madman’s wet dream.

And throughout all this… big business, the press, and the administration have made a loving cabal, and played a game of… diversion, shock, diversion… with no end to this endless war… in sight.

They have played: “mock the monk”, while your children came home mutilated, big business grew bigger breaking the back of unions and bankrupting the country through offshoring, and your rights became something vaguely remembered, in a once upon a time dream.

I do not believe in coincidence. Coincidence did not forge this nation, design and planning did. And design and planning is breaking this nations back.

Do I blame the administration for madman or madmen taking up guns and for two hours killing and maiming with an abandon that could only be called… impossible?

Yes I blame this administration. In seven years it has brought nothing but horror to those abroad, and nothing but horror to those here, in the eye of the storm. Maybe horror breeds horror. Maybe all those arms and legs and heads blown off in Palestine, or Iraq, or Haiti, or pick your American target of the week… maybe all that blood must be answered for in kind.

Maybe Shakespeare was right, that all those legs, and arms, and heads blown off will come together at the latter-day and cryout… “WE DIED! WE DIED IN SUCH A PLACE!”

We died in such a place.

Maybe the mad dogs we set loose on others, have to come home. Sniffing, and growling, and mad and rabid from the things they’ve seen.

Chickens coming home to roost.

Maybe there is no “shock and awe” for them, without “shock and awe” for us.

Chickens coming home to roost.

We’re raising a generation that thinks movies about torturing women, and mutilating people, and defiling others is really entertainment. And no I’m not talking censorship here, I’m talking values. And that America has no values, beyond Hate.

Ask Bernard McGuirk, Sid Rosenberg, Don Imus,… idiots put in positions to spread their idiocy and bigotry, and put in those positions by companies like NBC and Fox. You can ask any of them about hate, and a culture of hate. You can ask men like Bush, and the backers of such a man.

“Bodies rotting field and stream, because the living ones are rotten”…Lion in Winter

Hate.

Hate.

We train children to drop fire from the sky, indiscriminately on “terrorist nations” and somehow wipe from their heads the idea that their actions might be the most terrorist of them all.

When we teach a whole generation to defile themselves for the god called TV or MONEY, or murder for patriotism, we teach them not only to devalue the enemy… but to devalue themselves.

And such… loathing, can not… be well contained.

“We die unconsciously, because possessed of a non-human symbol” -Skipp Specter

MY heart goes out to those maimed by madmen. Crippled and scarred for life, futures and families shattered.

My heart goes out to those murdered by madmen. Lives ended, dreams unfulfilled, bloodlines broken. To the families who must find sense and sanity, in something so senseless and insane.

My heart goes out to all the victims, of those “people” who would… conserve hate.

Be those victims, stateside or abroad. Until we learn to preserve other lives, we have no hope in these mad times… of preserving our own.

“Machine Men, with Machine Minds, Killing in these Machine Times” paraphrase of Chaplin