The Actual Battle

I was watching CNN yesterday for Barack Obama’s press conference. There were pundits before and after giving their opinions about the state of the economy. Once again, Social Security and Medicare were under attack. The professional politicians, who suckle the teat of public office, fattening their pockets at our expense, catering to corporate interests, have been trying to eliminate any and all programs that support the greater good. First and foremost on the list has always been Social Security and Medicare. These are certainly not the only programs under attack, or the last. The implied message is that anything that helps the populace is a bad program, mismanaged by big government, a lag on the economy, and the ruination of our liberties. At least that is what they want you to believe. The truth is that there is money in these programs that greedy investors want in their pockets.

Men like Carl Icahn have more wealth than ten average people could earn in a lifetime and it is not enough to satisfy them. I will use Mr. Icahn as a prime example of this bizarre level of greed that corporate investors and venture capitalists exhibit. Carl Icahn is currently worth 10.5 billion according to Forbes.com. His firm, Icahn Enterprises, purchases companies through mergers, acquisitions and hostile takeovers. Once a business is procured, the management (and a large portion of the workforce) is gutted from the organization, which is then sold at a profit. A sound business model you say? Is this the natural progression of a company per chance? Are we to assume that this is inevitable or even necessary for our economy to survive? What about the people who lose their jobs in the process? What about their families, retirement funds, their dreams? How much money is enough for Carl Icahn? Apparently, not enough and he will continue his path of destruction until all of the money that anyone ever sees will be owned by him.

Carl is not alone. There is a small cabal of venture capitalist kings who seek to dominate the planet through economic tyranny. They do not care about the plight of the elderly, the disabled, or the children in need. To them, individual responsibility takes center stage as a necessary code of ethics. This responsibility does not extend to these men who make and break industries. What they do is above the law, above ethics, above anything we would consider decent or humane. They are the true kings of the world. The rest of us will spend our lives toiling for wages doled out at their whim. If our efforts do not make us wealthy or secure our future retirements that is simply too bad. We did not make the right life choices, did not make the right connections or simply not worthy of anything more. Not everyone can be rich so pull yourself up by your bootstraps and deal with it. That is the meaning of self-responsibility as seen through the eyes of men like Carl Icahn.

The majority of us will work until we die or are unable to function. Little sympathy will be awarded us. This is the world that these men of economic tyranny are trying to create. Media moguls like Rupert Murdoch are re-educating us with programs of disinformation like the shows that cater to Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh. Many people now willingly vote against their own interests because they are uninformed and misinformed. We are taught from an early age that empathy and compassion are un-American. In some parts of the country, these are also considered unchristian. Programs like welfare, unemployment, social security, Medicare, and public education are constantly being attacked as wasteful. These services were created to elevate all people equally. This is for the common good. When our citizens are healthy, properly educated, and earn livable wages, America becomes stronger. That concept is what is under attack. The current ideology is that when corporations are strong, our nation is strong. Does anyone truly think that the US can be resilient if we become serfs to the private industries? Perhaps the Chinese model is not as attractive to the average American if he or she actually had to live at work, have rent and utilities deducted from their meager wages and never earn enough to move on. That is the Wal-mart model currently employed in their Chinese factories that manufacture all of their goods.

Government programs can become wasteful very easily. However, this waste has more to do with bureaucracy and local government than with the elusive Big Government” beast of Tea Party lore. Rather than eliminate these necessary programs, perhaps we just need to streamline them. There are ways of doing this without harming the recipients. We simply do not have the right people working on solutions. Give me a small team of people that I can hand pick. I guarantee we would devise five viable resolutions for any one issue. I am not part of the elite so this scenario would never come to fruition under the current power structure. A viable solution to Universal Healthcare is a single payer plan and electronic identification through retina or thump print recognition. A single payer plan would be harmful to companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield, while electronic identification would eliminate the care of any non-American. I could write up the entire program myself, but working in a bubble is not the best way to develop a universal solution. I would need industry representation, community activists, medical experts and a realistic budget proposal for the program. I could do it and a few very wealthy people would not be happy. That is when the disinformation campaigns would begin to bombard us with commercials, books, pundits on Sunday morning talk shows all telling us that the solution would be socialism, the end of America, an expansion of big government, and somehow unconstitutional.

The main concern about these programs right now is funding. We are in the middle of an economic crisis. The people who profited most from this monetary collapse are being insulated from the harsh realities of it. The men like Carl Icahn are allowed to continue their destructive activities as if no recession ever existed. We do not have enough money to do everything that we do as a nation. That is a fact. The solution being bandied about is to dismantle Medicare and Social Security. Ron Paul boldly stated what I have been saying for years (paraphrased here): “We can pay for social security very easily by changing our foreign policies. Instead of shelling out money to other countries, use it for Americans.” We spend Billions per year on Iraq, Afghanistan and several countries where we have troops stationed (like Germany and South Korea). Not to mention the foreign aid we give to countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and so on. Consider balancing the deficit and paying for necessary programs like Social Security by simply ending the two wars and consolidating our military posts and foreign aid packages. Problem solved! Except that there are people profiting from military spending. Current speaker of the house John A. Boehner was trying to propose the building of a spare engine for the F-35 fighter jet. This was thankfully voted down to save taxpayer money. GE Aviation, located in Boehner’s home state of Ohio, would have manufactured the engines. This is how corrupt politicians bilk taxpayers out of billions annually through military spending.

Slash military spending and use the money to build a solid foundation for America. Education should be our number one priority. A very close second should be our health care (preventive and corrective). Does everything need to be a profit-based commodity? Should we not care for each other? Isn’t national unity and federal/state/local community just as important as security? I believe it is more so.

I Am Who I Am

I am constantly torn between what I must do (as prescribed by society) and what my heart and mind tell me to do. One could see how dangerous a proposition this presents. If we are all to do as we feel we must or are compelled to do what, would become of the world? The nature of humans is twofold. On the one hand we are intelligent, logical, and filled with the emotional need for spirituality. On the other hand, are we not all predisposed to greed, jealousy, envy, superficiality, and a minimal materialism that all stem from our ancestors? Each of us is capable of acts of bravery, compassion and selflessness, just as we are all capable of violence, intolerance and perverse sexuality. Should a mentally ill person listen to his or her compulsions or “voices in their heads”, the result can be deadly, as David Berkowitz proved in the summer of 1976.

Yet, what of the creative soul? What would our society be like without the vision and talents of the artists? Although many of the greats walked a fine line between genius and madness, their unique way of interpreting the world speaks to such deep meaning and beauty. Surely we could not have evolved without writers, artists, craftsmen/women, performers, and musicians. Nor can we achieve any higher state of being without our shaman who these artisans embody through their virtuosity. I am one of these people. My visions, ideas, talents and being all emanate with the insight of a sage. Several times, after writing or creating I will look at my handiwork and wonder where it came from. My talents are a spring that bubbles from a universal consciousness that I neither control nor fully comprehend. When writing political essays the assertions made stem from a code of ethics so ingrained that they can only be a connection to a divine source. I know unequivocally, what the resolution of a political issue should be when I have enough information about it. Yet, when writing political essays and opinions, people do not care about ethics or logic. Individuals, especially detractors, want evidence.

I have studied many religions throughout my life. There are many universal truths and similarities in every single religion. Yet, devout practitioners, especially fundamentalists, refuse to acknowledge my opinion because they simply do not like what I am saying. Religion is an emotion-based thought process. Followers must believe in things that they do not understand. People who can think conceptually will be able to get past the need for reverence of humanistic deities like Jesus Christ or Mohammed. Yet, we cannot dismiss these needs for individuals who connect to divinity in this way. There are several religions in existence because everyone has a different level of spirituality and varying emotional needs. One cannot, and should not, dismiss another religion because of differing rituals, myths, or worse, for calling God by another name. Does anyone truly believe that God, Yahweh, Allah, and Brahman are different beings? All are worshipped as the ultimate source of all things or as the almighty and all-powerful being of omnipotence. In a perfect world, we would all agree that any religion is as good a path to God as any other. Yet, many people cannot accept diversity with religion. No other political force has caused more death, tyranny or oppression than religion. Religion is not evil, but the corruption of it by humans definitely is. This is possible and an ever-present danger because of the emotional impact that religion has on its followers. Rather than reason an issue logically, religious thought rationalizes the matter to fit the dogma.

An example of this is the issue of abortion. Personally, I have conflicting feelings about abortion. However, when speaking politically, we must remove ourselves from the equation. Fundamentalist Christians have sought to completely ban abortion. I understand that they do not want to kill, believing that a fetus is a person. However, they are not offering stronger social programs to care for the unwanted children who will be a product of a full abolition. Nor do they want to concede that the procedure is sometimes necessary and that the well being of the mother is more important than that of a fetus, which cannot be proven to have consciousness and therefore be human. In addition, elimination of the practice will not end abortions from happening. In fact, this would force women who need or want the procedure to seek unsanitary and dangerous alternatives. These women should be allowed to have a medical professional in a sterile environment, regulated by the government, perform the process. We cannot tell women that they do not have the right to an abortion because someone in Kansas believes that all fetuses have a right to life regardless of how bad the quality of that life may be. The only way to end abortion is through education and strong social programs. Because we do not educate people enough to make balanced choices regarding pre and extra marital sex, we cannot just eliminate abortions. Likewise, without strong social programs we cannot care for the unwanted children from these mothers. Forcing a woman to carry a fetus through birth is a roll of the dice with that child’s well being. Will the mother abuse or neglect the child because of hatred or resentment? Will she abandon the child with unsavory people, or worse in a trash dumpster as we have seen too many times on the news? We cannot just base laws on our own dogmatic beliefs without taking into full account the people who are affected by these policies. Fundamentalists will never allow such compromise. That is the sad reality of our political process.

Society requires that I work for a living. Money will not be given to me for free, nor do I have the opportunity at this time to go off the grid; a cabin in the woods with a greenhouse so I can self sustain. Some of my friends and family have pressured me (unintentionally) to go back to work. Although I am entitled to unemployment, that agency pressures me to seek employment with the threat of losing my benefits. Yet, as a creative spirit, a misfit, an outspoken and strong willed person I have difficulty maintaining in the corporate world. I am prone to dressing in black, not shaving, wearing piercings, dying my hair colors (like blue, green and purple), as well as getting and displaying tattoos. I curse constantly. People who act like they are better than myself easily offend me. I will not schmooze or network with people I do not like. I choose my friends by their character and their heart. I will not become someone’s friend based on whether he or she can get me more money or a better position. Usually those types of corporate creatures that can make or break my career are assholes and I am quick to point this out when I see the results of their actions. And so I have an impulse to bite the hand that feeds me. This is part of my nature. If something is wrong, no matter how much money I am offered, or how much my job depends on my silence, I will rebel against that action, person or circumstance. This may seem like these statements are a contradiction of everything I wrote about being connected to a divine muse. However, they are more aligned than the casual observer would realize. Every religion has myths about teachers who appear and dissent from the accepted faith(s). These rebels are portrayed as heroes and in many cases as personified divinity; an aspect of God. Creative people carry this divine seed, which blossoms through their craft. Always, the established or accepted beliefs (the status quo) depict these souls as enemies, traitors and blasphemers. Although Jesus had a large following, the Jewish leaders and definitely the Romans were peeved at him to say the least. I am one of those people who not only see the world differently than most, but also dare to live by my convictions. Some have even described me as being on a different wavelength. I wear that like a badge of honor.

I was not cut out to work in a corporate environment. I was born a rebel. My uniqueness and nature has always been in conflict with authority figures. I believe that I must pursue my crafts as a means to an end. To push me back into the workforce may be disastrous. There is also the possibility that my nature will work with corporate environment, such as my time at Biogen Idec. There I was allowed to shine, until the last year of my employ. Always, management changes bring conflicting visions of how things must be done. Sometimes this improves a department or workflow. Usually, it becomes a contention with the worker bees. I saw a lot of people leave Biogen Idec in the year before the big lay offs. This was a result of management changes and the destructive behavior that is possibly inherent to it. I am blogging now to get myself back into the flow of writing. I am still in school, but since I just returned from a six-month hiatus I am having difficulty adhering to a schedule. I must pursue my talents. I must allow my creativity to guide me, rather than the social requirements of a very corporate world. Let us not forget that private industry is a form of tyranny. I am all for making money, being innovative as well as being an industry or field leader. However, I do not believe that we must achieve this on the backs and necks of workers. Nor do I think that healthy competition should be muscled out of an industry through protectionist laws such as NAFTA and other free trade agreements. I realize now that I do not want to rest on my laurels or suckle the teat of social programs. I am a motivated and hardworking man. However, I also understand that corporate careers will only consume my soul. I will be a slave to tyranny, beaten down by middle management despots who clearly have no power in any other aspect of their lives so they become megalomaniacs. I cannot play that game any longer. That is completely against my nature. I am who I am and to stifle that only burns resentment.

I Am the Law!

In Capitalism Will Devour Itself I discussed the unfortunate circumstance of my credit card information being stolen. I decided that I should press charges. My local police station was the first place I went to file a complaint. I waited for about 20 minutes before being brought into an interview room. The officer asked where my bank was. I told her the name of the town and she stated (several times) that this was out of their jurisdiction and that I must go to the police department for the town my bank's main office was located. Without questioning further, I drove to that town. When I arrived in the alternate police station I was greeted with disdain. When I entered the building I approached a large bullet proof glass partition with a buzzer for service. No one manned the desk behind the glass. A police officer was at a nearby desk, leaning back in his chair watching television. He lazily looked at me, looked back at his television and then back at me. He was clearly peeved that he had to get up out of his chair. When he finally made it to the partition I told him why I was there. He stopped me, asked where I lived and told me that my local police station had to handle this complaint. I told him that I was just there and they had sent me to him. He asserted that I was at the wrong place and I asked, "What do I do if they try to send me back to him?" His response; "Insist".

I have to admit that I was angry, frustrated and not liking the police at that point. I understand why we have law enforcement. I would not want to be without it. I have met several policemen and women who are nice people, who take their job seriously, and bring honor to the uniform. There are also officers who are, for lack of a better term, pigs. These thugs who mask their brutality and crimes within the law, bending it to their whims like a reed in the wind, give the police a bad name. I do not have a problem with law enforcement, but I do take umbrage with pigs. "I am the law!" has been stated to me with authoritative tones by many pigs throughout my life. Their assertion is not true. The police department and each officer of the law is just that; a civil servant enforcing laws. The police are not the law, nor are they above it. Likewise, they cannot create laws. Local, State and Federal legislation is all written and voted on by elected officials. City ordinances are written by the selectmen and women elected each term. The police can only enforce the law within the confines of the law. Never forget this fact.

I left that station and called my local police. I told them what had just transpired and I was told to go to their web site, download and complete a "lengthy and in-depth" Identity Theft report and bring that to them. I went to the website for the Abington police and could not locate the form. My view on this is that neither police station wants to bother with doing the paperwork. I was pushed away when I needed help. When I insisted, as I was instructed to do, I was basically told to do the paperwork myself. I was also told over the phone that identity theft happens all the time and that there are little resources for extradition, especially for a mere larceny. I actually received more help and information from one of the vendors who had a fraudulent purchase blocked by my bank. Their fraud department told me that the IP address was in Texas but that was a proxy and that the source was coming from Southeast Asia. Additionally, this person had my name, address and phone number along with my credit card number, expiration date and security code. The perpetrator could have hacked my computer or the databanks, not only from online vendors but from "brick and mortar" companies. I was told that if we had a separate credit card for each company we traded with, then we could more easily pinpoint security leaks. Imagine how many credit cards one would have if that were the case. Some people would have hundreds. I would probably have about 30 or 40. This young man actually helped me with that information. I have decided to write a letter to the Attorney General for help and contact my local FBI office to report the international crime. I know that I will never find out who did this to me, but the more we come forward, the more we will be forced to do things differently. For one, security with electronic trades can be somewhat achieved. Each transaction can be traced, for the most part. If people exist who can create complex arrays of proxies to cover up their online crimes, then we must also have people who can untangle those webs and setup network security that block them from being built.

I am sure that we will find a solution to identity theft and that it will cost us a lot of money since it will be sold to us, as all things are. Yet, the problem with law enforcement is another issue entirely. Currently, every city, town and county have ambiguous laws such as Disturbing the Peace, Loitering, Vagrancy and so on. These were created to allow local law enforcement to circumvent State, Federal and Constitutional law as deemed necessary to uphold community standards. Who determines these community standards? Usually the more wealthy citizens of a town, local business owners and the elected officials. In some cases, the dominate church will dictate community standards as well. The later being the few times that the middle class and poor citizens have any say in such matters. Consequentially, certain groups of teens cannot hangout at the local park (unless they are the elites, such as jocks or wealthy kids). This falls under the guise of loitering, even though the park exists specifically for that purpose. Likewise, a person cannot wander into town without having enough money for lodging without being accused of vagrancy. The worst one is disturbing the peace. If I cough, that is disturbing the peace. If I form a protest rally, that can be construed as disturbing the peace. If I march in a Veterans day parade without a permit holding an anti-war sign, that can be construed as disturbing the peace. Any manner one can think of concerning communication, protest, civil disobedience, even travel can be construed as disturbing the peace. This is too vague, purposefully so. For one, if you are not part of the elite crowds, your disturbance will be punished. If I go to a town hall meeting and express an opinion counter to popular (elite) views or votes, I can be removed by an officer of the law, spend time in a holding cell or issued a ticket for a monetary sum. This violates our rights that are guaranteed in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. If a group of citizens hold a political rally in the park, we can be attacked by the police under the guise of disturbing the peace. The First Amendment guarantees the right to peaceably assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The despicable side of this is when pigs use these ambiguous laws to not only violate the rights of citizens (and a homeless person is a citizen too) but to brutalize and subjugate them. How many pigs throughout America were affiliated with racist groups like the Ku Klux Klan? More to the point, how many of those pigs arrested, beat, tortured and even murdered blacks, hispanics, asians and Native American Indians using such laws? The answer is more than is actually recorded, more than we will ever know. I am white and I am still occasionally rousted by the police. At 42 I am sick of routine checks and trumped up charges. My last ticket was for tailgating. Yes, technically I was tailgating as was everyone else on the highway. I traveled a very long route through two towns to get to that highway. I was behind a State Trooper for most of that time. On the highway he ghosted my car as I tried to get past someone who kept slowing down and speeding up. When I was pulled over the pig began yelling at me. He then accused me of tailgating him prior to getting on the highway. Believe me when I say, if I am behind a police car I keep my distance. This cop was not only yelling at me when I was cooperating, he was also bearing false witness. He lied, either intentionally because he believed he could with impunity or because his perception was altered by his apparent anger. When I am confronted by the police, I find it best to be polite and cooperative. Usually, the officer will respond in kind. However, when dealing with a pig one cannot do anything right. The pig will bust you for whatever reason he can.

A routine stop begins with me giving the officer my license and registration. In the instances when I am stopped on the street, just my identification is taken. The cop will run my license to see if I have out-standing warrants. This is what is known in the legal business as a fishing expedition and is a violation of one's Fourth Amendment: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized" (Jefferson, 1789). However, this is an obstacle for a pig so they will cite the probable cause clause without necessarily defining what their suspicions are. Heaven help you if you question a pig when being rousted. Tread lightly if this is the path that you choose. If no warrants are outstanding, the pig will then search you, your baggage and (when applicable) your vehicle. I have been harassed, threatened, handcuffed, and fined all as tactics to elicit information or to see if the pigs can find any reason at all to arrest me. Apparently, I fit some sort of profile or simply look guilty. However, there is no law dictating how one must look. Some people say I look vaguely Spanish or Italian. I am black-Irish, German, Anglo Saxon and Blackfoot Sioux. Mutt is the best way to describe me. I am angered by the violations of my rights, yet I must keep this in contrast. There are some true bastards out there who commit violent acts of brutality against kids between 10 and 25 years of age. These pigs carry on the tradition of police brutality against minorities as if the civil rights movement never took place. Homosexuals have it even worse.

This nation is at a crucial stage where we could very easily destroy ourselves. Consider another megalomaniacal sociopath like George W. Bush taking office when we have barely put the pieces back together and strengthen our national identity. Suppose Mitt Romney or Sarah Palin sleaze their way into the Oval Office and wreak their special brand of havoc. Extrapolate that with the civil unrest of rising food costs, dwindling social programs, rising unemployment and underemployment levels, as well as stagnant or decreasing wages. Civil unrest is inevitable should we choose to either ignore these issues or continue to pour salt on that festering wound. How will law enforcement respond? More directly, how will the pig react? We all know the answer. History will repeat itself. The murders at Kent State and a few other colleges will pale in comparison to the bloodletting we will witness. Unless we act now to punish the pigs who give police officers a bad name.

References

Jefferson, T. (1789). Amendment IV. (1789). Bill of rights.

Capitalism Will Devour Itself

I know that I promised to write daily and nothing was posted on Tuesday February 1st. However, I wrote two articles the day prior and I was dealing with a lot yesterday. I received a call on January 31st from my bank's fraud unit. They had noticed a number of transaction that were out of character from my usual business. The ensuing phone conversation was a dance of confirmations as the young woman swirled a litany of transactions that I countered in the affirmative or denial. That was the beginning. I woke the next day prepared to head down to my bank and complete affidavits and a more detailed report of guile and deceit. I was issued a new credit card, thankfully.

The remains of the day were spent updating subscriptions (like Netflix) and correcting pending transactions (like the software I ordered). I was able to trudge through this, even though it was a huge pain in the keister. Yet, I have this lingering feeling of violation. I have always been careful about online purchases and providing information. However, my endeavors have been futile. Someone was still able to lift my credit card details and use that information to go on a shopping spree. This was clearly a young person. The goods procured include a membership to Blizzard.com, almost $100 in iTunes purchases, several songs from Amazon.com, software, and several miscellaneous purchases that had no monetary amount since my bank blocked them. To say this sucks is an understatement. This is horrible.

The dollar amount is small and my bank is reimbursing me the money. The principle of this is that I was robbed. Probably, this was some punk who should get his ass handed to him through the law or other means. But this is just a symptom of something deeper. Humans are complex in many ways. The physiological network of nerves, cells, and electrical impulses is an immensely wondrous array that compiles the bodies we inhabit and are deeply enmeshed with our minds. This mind, the seat of our soul, is our consciousness, our inner light, our true selves. By whatever name we apply, we are speaking of the same thing…the essence that is our being. This mind, continues to exist after our carbon bodies lie rotting in the ground. As phenomenal a creation as the body is, the brain is even more complex. The conduit between mind and body is the brain. Aside from being the central processing unit for the working of the human specimen, our brains also contain a labyrinthian super-system that regulates our memories, personalities, emotions, and subconsciouses.

Every one of us has the capacity for greatness. Each person is born with a unique combination of talents, some of which combine in very surprising ways. For example, I am artistic. I am also a good cook and database designer. My art and creativity comes screaming through my databases as well as the things I bake and cook. Our inherent gifts are the tools that shape our destinies. No sight is more bleak nor disheartening than the sight of someone denied the chance to utilize his or her talents. To take the spark of life and innate genius that gives one a sense of completeness, of purpose and crush it is the most cruel of punishments. To do so destroys one's soul. This leads to disillusionment, angst, or in some cases despair, addiction, even violence. Society in general requires compromise. One cannot always do as one wishes. We must always consider how our actions will affect others. Sometimes this compromise requires one to set aside a talent. However, in some societies these talents are systematically squashed because of class, caste, or industrial needs. This is when a society can be considered bad. A society should govern for the greater good of its populace and not to use the citizens as a means to an end.

I digress. We all have the capacity for greatness, enlightenment and to evolve to a higher state of being as a species. Yet, in classic Yin/Yang style, we also share a proclivity for darker pursuits. Everyone has lied, stolen, cheated, coveted, or any combination of these activities. What drives us to inherently be inclined to commit acts of righteousness and corruption? For one, our brains can justify or rationalize any activity we commit, no matter how depraved. Certainly there are circumstances that warrant theft, lying and even taking a life (such as self defense). Yet, it is the more obscene activities that I am questioning. What drives a person to hack into a network and steal someone's identity and then delve headlong into materialism? How does one sleep at night after committing such an act? I know that for me, when I do something wrong, no matter how slight…I feel guilt and seek to make amends. Am I simply more enlightened than the person who stole my credit card information? Does he or she feel any remorse? Are they laughing at me or at society?

We live in a business run society. The needs of the corporation outweigh the needs of the populace (workers and consumers). It is no surprise that everything is a commodity, including information. Consequential to this fact, we are inundated with advertising, product placement and the manipulativeness inherent to them. Given the depreciating value of the American education system and economy, the logical outcome is an uncompromising materialism. In a world where we are all judged by the amount of money and goods we own, activities like stealing identities and fraudulent purchases are merely a byproduct. The notion of community has been systematically driven out of our heads. We are taught to despise unions, to distrust each other, to consume without question. It is unfortunate that someone stole my credit card information. But I truly weep for our society. We witness the inevitable implosion of capitalism eating itself alive.