tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post3272254404396177651..comments2024-03-28T16:08:29.578-04:00Comments on Sardonicky: Race for the BucksKaren Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-15701192686471032802015-03-20T14:21:26.949-04:002015-03-20T14:21:26.949-04:00Hedges’ plane to Toronto was delayed by bad weathe...Hedges’ plane to Toronto was delayed by bad weather. He missed reading his speech but released his text to the press. It’s not long.<br /><br />@annenigma<br />Here’s another good line from the paragraphs where he limns the real dissident, the true rebel.<br /><br />“The rebel knows that, as Augustine wrote, hope has two beautiful daughters, anger and courage….”<br /><br />http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/needs-no-introduction/2015/03/sweet-sound-protest-words-and-music-day-action-to-proteJay–Ottawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10360356126450612113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-20280876163983212862015-03-20T12:08:55.545-04:002015-03-20T12:08:55.545-04:00@Jay
Thanks for posting that. I too read Glenn...@Jay<br /><br />Thanks for posting that. I too read Glenn's piece and that particular comment that quoted Chris Hedges. I was taken by "I do not fight fascists because I will win. I fight fascists because they are fascists." Count me in. <br /><br />Here's another quote from a famous American: "I have not yet begun to fight!"annenigmanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-12002168203387578202015-03-20T09:36:22.175-04:002015-03-20T09:36:22.175-04:00Just found this over at TI where Greenwald explain...Just found this over at TI where Greenwald explains why Snowden has not found refuge in Germany. The Americans threatened not to alert Germany if it discovered a terrorist plot brewing against the Germans.<br />https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/19/us-threatened-germany-snowden-vice-chancellor-says/<br /><br />Within the commentary following that tale, this link to a speech by Chris Hedges in Toronto about Canada's new bill, C-51, aping arrangements of the US security state.<br /><br />"I do not know if we can build a better society. I do not even know if we will survive as a species. But I know these corporate forces have us by the throat. And they have my children by the throat. I do not fight fascists because I will win. I fight fascists because they are fascists. And this is a fight that in the face of the overwhelming forces against us requires us to find in all acts of sustained rebellion the embers of life, an intrinsic meaning that lies outside of certain success. It requires us to at once grasp reality and then refuse to allow this reality to paralyze us. It is, and I say this to people of all creeds or no creeds, to make an absurd leap of faith, to believe, despite all empirical evidence around us, that good always draws to it the good, that the fight for life always goes somewhere. We do not know where. The Buddhists call it karma. And in these sustained acts of resistance we make it possible to reclaim a future for the generations that come after us, a future that the corporate state, if not overthrown, will obliterate.”<br /><br />http://rabble.ca/news/2015/03/chris-hedges-on-c-51-they-have-won-and-it-to-us?utm_content=buffer35699&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=bufferJay–Ottawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10360356126450612113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-20469435494627459642015-03-20T08:27:52.611-04:002015-03-20T08:27:52.611-04:00I recall that Howard Schultz, in 2012, urged his e...I recall that Howard Schultz, in 2012, urged his employees to promote fiscal bipartisanship and support Fix the Debt [Maya MacGuineas - Pete Peterson - Simpson-Bowles] by writing “Come together” on Starbucks coffee cups.<br /><br />http://www.starbucks.com/blog/lets-come-together-america/1252<br /><br />“Assholes tend to stick together, and once stuck are not easily separated.” - Robert I. Sutton, The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn'tDenis Nevillenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-33483349199497700082015-03-20T07:52:05.949-04:002015-03-20T07:52:05.949-04:00I remember in SFO when Starbucks was a cart outfit...I remember in SFO when Starbucks was a cart outfit. My, how things have changed. What seems to be obvious but it is never mentioned is that if one makes it in America then one should pay TAXES in America on the gains! It is really quite simple but that's why there are lawyers. To see how much tax we can get away from paying!Bill Spraguenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-45323348453103820442015-03-20T05:08:50.531-04:002015-03-20T05:08:50.531-04:00Great point, Jay-Ottawa!
Of course, this all mak...Great point, Jay-Ottawa! <br /><br />Of course, this all makes perfect sense. Although our representatives in the legislature are clearly on-the-take, that could change. People like Elizabeth Warren are popular and wild cards - unlike Obama who is as easy to control as his Republican counterparts. Better to hedge their bets with a trade deal that has ISDS included in the make-up. Now these governments will be at the mercy of the multi-national corporations.<br /><br />I must admit, the ISDS provisions are the ones that concern Australians the most. While there is little coverage on the TPP and most Australians have never heard of it, there are occasional articles in the Sydney Morning Herald and on Australian websites. Most focus on the ISDS and the rising costs of medicines that will surely come to pass if the TPP is voted through Parliament.<br /><br />As for Starbucks, I thought their biggest sin was moving into areas where there were established coffee shops and running them out of business. I had no idea Starbucks was one of the big corporations invited to the TPP talks. Say no more - I will boycott them in future. I usually favoured the smaller, local shops anyway but now I will make a point of it.Valerie Long Tweedienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-23697101655253124002015-03-20T00:49:32.606-04:002015-03-20T00:49:32.606-04:00Are trade agreements like TPP only about easier ac...Are trade agreements like TPP only about easier access to markets and money? Something more worrisome is in the mix. <br /><br />The powers now capable of taming big corporations are nation states. True, governments just about everywhere have always lent a big hand to business. However, nation states have not been utterly subservient to business all the time. Cripple nation states––theoretically responsible for protecting the social contract––and suddenly corporate power is king of the hill around the globe––not occasionally on a narrow trade issue through a stiff fine here and there, but all of the time just about everywhere.<br /><br />Governments that buy into TPP are committing suicide. Their leaders know it. They are latter-day Ronald Reagans expanding the myth that government is the problem. Whatever powers governments retained to secure economic justice (at least once in a while) will be forfeited. Nation states are already half way down on one knee before the new kings of finance and commerce. <br /><br />Get used to the new deal. Business will reign supreme, its new status secured through the back door of trade agreements. Governments will be forced to turn over (i.e., privatize) everything that might turn a buck in corporate hands.<br /><br />Money is only half the story. TPP and TTIP are political coups that seek to undermine the nation states of North America, Asia and Europe. Such trade pacts usher us into the next stage of history, the great abdication of nation states.Jay–Ottawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10360356126450612113noreply@blogger.com