THANK YOU ALL! -- ACTIVISM IS THRIVING

The times they ARE a'changing

I want to say thanks to each and every one of you.

"House on Fire" has grown faster than I ever expected. It now has 100 followers and has reached 40,000 pageviews. This is really encouraging for a small blog that started without any fanfare or a ready-made support base. The "hits" are growing exponentially. Thank you so much for the support!


This is an Ad-Free Zone

Apparently Google is well aware of this success and has been hitting me up to run ads. I won't do this. I am essentially against all commercial advertising. I would not be against non-persuasive information about worthwhile products and services available to us but it just isn't like that. I won't be a part of the con. "House on Fire" will remain completely independent and I will write it for all the right reasons, not for payment.

That said, I WILL consider running "ads" for non-profits and worthwhile causes if people want to contact me. No, I won't run political ads for the elitist nimrods running for president. However, I will run ads for Norman Solomon's run for Congress if he wants me to because I know him personally and I know he is going to get to Capitol Hill and raise some hell. Solomon is a lifelong activist and one of the finest people I know.

Of course, being the "techodumbo" I am, I will have to work out how to put such ads on my page. I can barely operate this blog as it is! :-) (I'm like the guy in the classic Christopher Guest parody movie "For Your Consideration" who says: "The Internet. That's the one with email, right?")


The Better Angels of Our Nature

Above all, I want to thank you all for your compassion. For caring. The feedback I get -- apart from the folks on the far right who want to get their hands around my throat and call me all kinds of nasty names that I guess are supposed to make me blush or tremble or something -- is so encouraging: not just for me personally but for our bid to make the world a better place. There are so many great people out there and we are going to win!


The Future of "House on Fire"

As I've said before, this blog is going to be rolled into a very special activism site that I've been planning for years. That day is getting closer. If I can raise the necessary funds, it may be born in six months. It has already been endorsed by Noam Chomsky, Medea Benjamin, Father Dan Berrigan, and the late Howard Zinn. I'm expecting more such endorsements from prominent activists. If my projections are even close to the mark, in years to come this site will scare the crap out of the Establishment.


Upcoming Posts

Finally, I have several things I'm planning to blog about: Palestine's bid for statehood, the Wall Street Protests, the importance of small actions, another tragic instance of gay bullying, the dangerous decay of our First Amendment rights, and much more. I am behind on these subject because, as you'll have noticed, I've been devoting "House on Fire" to Troy Davis' cause recently. His execution is one of the most disgusting domestic examples of the violence our governments and courts are capable of that I've witnessed in a long time. This was state-sanctioned murder. To euphemize what happened with more palatable words is to join with the spirit of the crime against Troy. Troy Davis wanted us to continue the fight against capital punishment: We must honor his memory by doing just that until this abomination is eradicated not only from the United States but from the entire world. (GO HERE to sign the ACLU's Pledge to End the Death Penalty.)

But again, I thank you. I was moved by the hits that my blogs about Troy received. Again, not for me, but because it was further evidence of the collective care that exists. It inspires me and I know that good will always triumph over evil, even if we have to fight like hell to get there.

So thank you, 40,000 times. I am committed to finishing what I started with this blog and doing my small part to, yep, change the world. And you are all a part of that. You rock!

Have a great weekend (but keep the activism going),
Adrian

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might also like to take a look at THE REVOLUTION IS KNOCKING -- PT. 2.

CEOs SUCK (YOUR TAXES)!

Steve Jobs, who just stood down as boss of Apple: "Would the next WASP in line who wants to make an obscene amount of money please step forward."

We all know Chief Executive Officers of large corporations make a fortune, right?

Wall Street can crash, the economy can take a header, unemployment lines can stretch around the block and poverty lines can squeeze more and more people under them. But CEOs are still laughing all the way to the Hamptons.

It's pretty sickening on many levels. For example, these jokers constantly talk about profitability and "remaining competitive." This is corporatespeak for maximizing profits by any available measure... other than cutting their own salaries. And the first port of call is generally the rank and file: pay cuts, benefits cuts, layoffs. Anybody but them.

With the recent attempts to gouge workers at Verizon and in the state of Wisconsin and, well, everywhere else; and with real wages for the majority of the workforce stagnating or declining over the past 30 years, it's nauseating that the top layer of business boys is still at the trough.


THE NUMBERS

So how much do these guys (yes, almost exclusively white males) make? You might want to get out the Mylanta before you read this.

According the the AFL-CIO website, in 2010 the average CEO pay at S&P 500 companies was as follows:

Salary: $1,093,989
Bonus: $251,413
Stock Awards: $3,833,052
Option Awards: $2,384,871
Nonequity Incentive Plan Compensation: $2,397,152
Pension and Deferred Compensation Earnings: $1,182,057
All Other Compensation: $215,911
TOTAL: $11,358,445

Quoting from the same site:

According to the Federal Reserve, U.S. corporations held a record $1.93 trillion in cash on their balance sheets in 2010. But they are not investing to expand their companies, grow the real economy or create good middle-class jobs. Corporate CEOs are literally hoarding their company’s cash—except when it comes to their own paychecks.

In 2010, Standard & Poor's 500 Index company CEOs received, on average, $11.4 million in total compensation— a 23 percent increase in one year. Based on 299 companies’ most recent pay data for 2010, their combined total CEO pay of $3.4 billion could support 102,325 median workers’ jobs.

Fortunately, the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act contains new tools to help limit runaway CEO pay. Shareholders now have a “say-on-pay” vote on executive compensation, and companies must disclose the ratio of CEO-to-worker pay at each company.

And on an important side note, let's not forget that corporations are BY FAR the biggest recipients of welfare -- our tax dollars!


CONCLUSION

There's something very wrong here, obviously. Think about how hard you work and how much you make (if you even have a job, of course). Now, if you divide $11, 358,445 by a salary of $40,000, you get a quotient of 283.96. Now, does anybody really work 284 times harder than you? Or is their knowledge or expertise so unique, so irreplaceable, that they are worth 284 times your sweat? And what exactly do they do to make the world a better place?

Times are very tough, brutal, for many many people. And they were tough a long time before the 2008 recession hit for many millions in the U.S. and around the world. But the one constant is that CEOs do very well, living in their own stratosphere of luxury.

But be careful, fellas. The air will get awful thin up there once you piss off enough people. And they ain't gonna throw you an oxygen tank.

Take care,
Adrian

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might also like to take a look at THE REVOLUTION IS KNOCKING -- PT. 1.

THE REVOLUTION IS KNOCKING -- PT. 1

In my lifetime, I've never seen anything like this.

In fact, as far as I can tell, the present level of radicalization of the masses, in the U.S. and possibly globally, is unprecedented. The knowledge, the awareness, the networking, the activism, the motivation -- all the indexes that indicate radical societal change are going up.

This is key stuff and what "House on Fire" is all about. So I want to devote two or three posts to it. My observations of what's going on at present, what it means, where it might lead, how it will affect us and what WE can do to affect it.

What's the Evidence?

Let's start with the U.S. Even as recently as a decade ago, you didn't hear the "average person" questioning America's major institutions -- and certainly not with the sophisticated level of knowledge that they're exhibiting now.

People are aware of the Wall Street robber barons; the illegality of the U.S. invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere; the fact that we don't have a real democracy; the notion that things really do just go round and round in the same sick way regardless of who gets elected; the knowledge that corporations call the shots; the fact that those corporations can pollute the hell out of the air, water and land and not pay a serious price -- and will probably be granted more licenses to rip and tear for fossil fuels; a stark awareness that not only nuclear weapons but nuclear energy is unsafe and unnecessary. The list goes on.

People are discussing these things. I see it all the time now on Facebook, message boards, Twitter, in the alternative media and, on occasion, the mass media: you name it. The dialogue is thrilling to witness -- and very often it's really smart dialogue.

Activism-based groups have hit the mainstream. While I'm not here to go into deep detail about their individual merits or flaws, movements like Zeitgeist, Anonymous, the Venus Project and resource-based economy groups herald a whole new era. I feel that we have Wikileaks -- in tandem with a pitiful global economy -- to thank for this surge of widespread activism.

Then there are the uprisings around the globe: against oppressive regimes, protesting governments whose policies feed unemployment, and demanding peace and justice and decent-paying jobs. The Middle East alone is awash with protests.

And, of course, cyberspace. The New Frontier. The Establishment just can't keep the lid on it. TV was the one-way propaganda gold mine they relied on. But this Internet thing? What's a WASP to do?

"But how's it going to turn out?"

The question on everyone's lips. But to focus on the question itself is to miss the real point. I believe the real point is that people are actually ASKING this question. When has this ever happened before in modern, Western history vis-a-vis mass societal change? This is a landmark -- it almost feels like a miracle.

But not really: This has been simmering for some time. Of course, you could shorthand an answer and say: "Well, things are so rotten for so many people, we need radical change of some kind so at least the ship has left the dock. We have a shot of making things better." Predicting exactly how it will play out is like trying to predict anything about the future -- and it isn't what's important anyway. We just have to keep working, talking, protesting and shaping the thing as we move forward.

I'm not saying that there isn't quite a way to go; I'm just saying that we've traveled farther than ever before. And now, all things are possible.

Much more to write but I don't want to make these posts too long. Check back and I'll have more for you in a day or two -- and I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Take care,
Adrian

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might like to take a look at AMERICA IS IN DECAY.

ZUPP'S FACEBOOK POSTS #1

As I mentioned last time, I'm using Zuckerberg's billion dollar baby for activist purposes -- like millions of other activists.

I decided some of my recent posts would make a decent blog. Snippet-truisms and observations.


1/ No offense meant to decent Americans, whom I love, but honestly, just how long has it been okay for politicians to feed us the line "This is the greatest country in the world" without anybody standing up and saying flat out: "Hey, that's really arrogant and, well, quite wrong, d***head!"?

2/ COMMON CONVERSATION IN D.C. THESE DAYS: "U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, Amendments, Pledge of Allegiance, Patriot Act... Listen you guys, people are starting to wake up to the old crap. We need some NEW crap that we can twist around and confuse em with and get em saluting our bull***t."

3/ To those people who are too frightened or apathetic to speak up to power, how about doing it for the next generation? If we don't stand up to power, it might be the LAST generation.

4/ Final thought for the day: If you can't say something nice about someone, you're probably talking about a politician.

5/ I live in the States because I have a son here and there's much about it I love. I have a green card/permanent residency and have paid a truckload of taxes but I'm not allowed to vote. Should I stage a revolution over that? Wouldn't be the first time it happened.

6/ QUESTION: Why is it when the American government announces the occasional worthwhile reform, troop withdrawal, cessation of hostilities, repeal of an odious law etc, it will take effect in 30 days, 90 days, a year, two years...? I'm not saying outright that there might not, in certain instances, be a good reason for the delay, I'm just saying that we have a right to know what the hell that reason is. A lot of people can be slaughtered or starved in 30 days.

7/ "The more you can increase fear of drugs and crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all the people."
- Noam Chomsky

8/ Did anyone see the story about the huge racial divide in wages/salaries in America reported this past week? Not to mention the still-present gender divide. Meanwhile, the WASPs on Wall Street, who are just robber barons, are still cleaning up like champs.

9/ Whenever we need leadership in America, our "leaders" seem to go missing. Meanwhile, crop circles continue to mysteriously appear. Coincidence or connection? You be the judge. :-) (You have to admit, it would be much more fitting to call Congress, "those crop circle dudes.")

10/ We must not allow the elites to set the language of public discourse. For example, we do not have "defense spending." We have military spending, war spending, invasion spending, OFFense spending.

11/ [On the recent debt debacle] The answer to this is simple and obvious and many people know it: Cut military spending and take health "care" out of the hands of corporatio­ns. Those two things alone would cure the debt.

12/ Washington finally signs off on a debt deal: "Screw the people!"   

13/ CHEVY CHASE'S IMPERSONATION OF AN AMERICAN POLITICIAN: "It takes a big man to admit when he's wrong, and I am NOT a big man!" 

14/The way "our" [the U.S.] government is going, they'll have to build border walls to keep us IN before long.

Take care,
Adrian

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might like to take a look at WE'RE WINNING!

KNOWLEDGE AND EFFORT: THE WORLD'S TWO BEST FRIENDS -- PART 1

Things don't look to me, like they used to be. -- From the song "As the Days Go By" by Aussie rock star Daryl Braithwaite.

I've been reading about a variety of things lately (Wall Street, Blackwater, the new bionic age, and more) and watching a variety of documentaries (modern food, "democracy," the mass media, and more).

It's good to expand one's knowledge and keep the brain alert.

I could certainly read and research more, and I plan to. What is your confidence level in your knowledge about the world you live in?* I don't mean if you can point to Beijing on a map or name the prime minister of Britain. I mean your "hard" knowledge. (We'll discuss creative thinking at another juncture.)

To wit: Do you know what's in your food? Your water? Do you know who the people and corporations are that really run the planet and the implications of that for your everyday life? Do you know what's being done to the air you breathe? How many nuclear weapons there are in the world and what things could trigger nuclear Armageddon? Do you know that there are far more civilian casualties in the forays of American imperialism than there are military casualties?

Do you know who the CEO of Goldman Sachs is, what his motives are and why you should have at least a cursory understanding of this company? Do you know what the bailout of the banks really meant for us all and how it happened? Do you know why the employment rate is so high? And that it's actually considerably higher than the percentages you are told on the news?

Do you know how TV advertising affects the news you get -- and the news you DON'T get? Do you know that certain mega companies own many other companies and brands and media stations so that while you think you have many lifestyle and information choices you really don't?

Do you know the names of the companies that are profiteering in the BILLIONS, in illegal and undemocratic ways, from similarly illegal U.S. military invasions such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan?

You can find out these things, and much more, EASILY! You have no excuse in the Google age. You just have to be careful to select the most open, honest and verifiable information sources when Google spits back your list of options.

I mean, ideally, you'd also be reading books and articles on some of these things by people like Noam Chomsky, Norman Solomon, Amy Goodman, Naomi Klein, Howard Zinn, Michael Moore, William Blum, Arundhati Roy, Michael Albert, George Orwell, etc etc. But if not, you can at least go to democracynow.org (watch their news online each day at a time that suits you!!) or Zcommunications or fair.org or commondreams.org or wikileaks or stopcorporateabuse.org (where you can learn about your food and drinking water) or ippnw.org (where you can learn about the nuclear threat) or dozens of other great sites. Or get your hands on some of the more objective DVD documentaries available.

If you want leads on information sources, just email me at adrianz59@yahoo.com

If someone came into your house and told you how to raise your kids, what you should eat, how you should look, what you should drive, what you should care about, how blindly patriotic you should be... you would throw them out. Because you have the right to think for yourself. But every time you flip on the tube, that is what's happening. Admittedly, you have to be alert to it because the messages you get are generally dressed up in entertainment. (The word "infotainment" is one of the great tricks of recent propaganda.) It is not healthy, objective, honest information. It is junk education and, at its worst, plain propaganda (political and commercial) and outright lies.

Don't believe me? Read a little about it (some source suggestions below). And PAY ATTENTION when you watch TV rather than just let it wash over you and think how cute that commercial with the kids/puppy/cartoon characters/talking car/idiot clown is. What is that advert really saying to you and about you? And why does the news look like such a skewed song and dance act?

And what stories and facts might the news you watch be leaving OUT?

Maybe we aren't as clever as we think.

Then there's our kids: How clever are they (all biases aside)? For that matter, how clever can we seriously expect them to be? They haven't chosen how they are educated; we have, by letting things slip to the levels they have.

If we need better education for our kids shouldn't we be attacking the root of these problems? Shouldn't we be hounding Washington about education funding and what our kids are taught? (Not to mention what nutrition -- or lack thereof -- schools feed them.) As far as I can tell, apart from a very thin layer of schools in the United States, the education here is poor and declining. And that's not an indictment of the industry of many of our teachers.

It's an indictment of a governmental and economic system that allows it to happen in the richest country in history. You can get all kinds of rankings from all kinds of sources. But nearly every one of them will tell you that, whatever the measure, America ranks poorly with semi-comparable nations when it comes to education. And that's only for the usual memory based things. The notion of free thought never comes into it. Sad.

Even if you send your kid to a "good school," what are they learning? Can they even spell? If you say "yes," I'll take that bet and I know I'll win nine times out of 10 or better. I taught college English and writing for seven years -- the literacy levels were appalling! I've worked in an elementary school. I pay attention to this stuff. Kids can't spell. And that's the very thinnest end of the wedge. I won't even bother asking if they are learning anything substantive about how the world works because I already know the answer to that question and it would be a shameless bet to make. (I'll return to this in the next day or two.) Suffice it to say that it is not in the interest of certain people to have a generation that is educated in this and starts asking questions.

Which brings us the full circle to the question: What do you, as an adult, really know? Do you know more about Lindsay Lohan or your favorite TV show than the mechanics of funding the education system and setting curricula? Do you get your "best" info from the tube? Have you ever really tried to get solid, well-documented information about the most important issues in life? (Isn't that part of parenting too??) Have you ever even considered requesting a government document under the Freedom of Information Act?

Have you ever gone online to look at the voting records of your congressmen/women on issues like education, pollution, war, bailouts, lobbyists, taxes, corporations, military spending, poverty, you name it? All matters that directly affect you and your loved ones. Yes, directly!!

Do you ever take 15 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour out of your day, your week, to just quietly reflect on these things and what you might do? Or do you jump to "unwind" in front of your flat screen? (If you don't sleep well, you might want to look into just how relaxing television really is, with its quick cutting, volume surges and mentally agitating content. Quote: "According to new research presented at Sleep 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, television watching may be an important determinant of bedtime, and may contribute to chronic sleep debt." -- Science Daily, June 8, 2009)

Have you ever taken significant time to act on the important things you've learned about much-needed changes in education and other important areas of our society and lifestyles?

This blog topic, "KNOWLEDGE AND EFFORT," will be in two or more parts. I will try to keep each installment bite sized. I've opened the can and I'll tip out the rest of the worms over the next few nights. It might not be comfortable: dealing with your conscience seldom is. Dealing with harsh external realities in the 21st century can be even worse.

I hope you'll stick with me and think this stuff through. And maybe make an effort to help positive changes happen. And share some of this with your friends.

That's my hope and that's why I take time out of my own day to write this blog.

Take care and mull it over,
Adrian Zupp
* I am not trying to imply my knowledge is superior by posing this and similar questions.

ADDENDUM: SOME RELEVANT QUOTES FROM ALBERT EINSTEIN... A PRETTY SMART BLOKE.


"Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character."

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."

"Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds."

"Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal."

"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence."

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might like to take a look at KNOWLEDGE AND EFFORT: THE WORLD'S TWO BEST FRIENDS -- PART 2 and PART 3.